Molecular cloning and characterisation of a pattern recognition molecule, lipopolysaccharide- and β-1,3-glucan binding protein (LGBP) from the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

A lipopolysaccharide- and β-1,3-glucan binding protein (LGBP) cDNA was cloned from the haemocyte and hepatopancreas of white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei using oligonucleotide primers and RT-PCR. Both 3′- and 5′-regions were isolated by rapid amplification of cDNA end RACE method. Analysis of nucleotide sequence revealed that the cDNA clone has an open reading frame of 1101 bp encoding a protein of 367 amino acids including a 17 amino acid signal peptide. The calculated molecular mass of the mature proteins (350 amino acids) is 39.92 kDa with an estimated pI of 4.37. Two putative integrin binding motifs (cell adhesion site), RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) and a potential recognition motif for β- (1 → 3) linkage of polysaccharides were observed in the LGBP. Sequence comparison showed that LGBP deduced amino acid of L. vannamei has an overall similarity of 95%, 92% and 61% to that of blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris LGBP, tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon BGBP and crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus LGBP, respectively. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that LGBP transcript in haemocyte of L. vannamei increased in 3- and 6-h post Vibrio alginolyticus injection.