Functional Divergence in Shrimp Anti-Lipopolysaccharide Factors (ALFs): From Recognition of Cell Wall Components to Antimicrobial Activity. e67937

Antilipopolysaccharide factors (ALFs) have been described as highly cationic polypeptides with a broad spectrum of potent antimicrobial activities. In addition, ALFs have been shown to recognize LPS, a major component of the Gram-negative bacteria cell wall, through conserved amino acid residues exp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 8; no. 7
Main Authors Rosa, Rafael Diego, Vergnes, Agnes, Lorgeril, Julien de, Goncalves, Priscila, Perazzolo, Luciane Maria, Saune, Laure, Romestand, Bernard, Fievet, Julie, Gueguen, Yannick, Bachere, Evelyne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.07.2013
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Antilipopolysaccharide factors (ALFs) have been described as highly cationic polypeptides with a broad spectrum of potent antimicrobial activities. In addition, ALFs have been shown to recognize LPS, a major component of the Gram-negative bacteria cell wall, through conserved amino acid residues exposed in the four-stranded beta -sheet of their three dimensional structure. In penaeid shrimp, ALFs form a diverse family of antimicrobial peptides composed by three main variants, classified as ALF Groups A to C. Here, we identified a novel group of ALFs in shrimp (Group D ALFs), which corresponds to anionic polypeptides in which many residues of the LPS binding site are lacking. Both Group B (cationic) and Group D (anionic) shrimp ALFs were produced in a heterologous expression system. Group D ALFs were found to have impaired LPS-binding activities and only limited antimicrobial activity compared to Group B ALFs. Interestingly, all four ALF groups were shown to be simultaneously expressed in an individual shrimp and to follow different patterns of gene expression in response to a microbial infection. Group B was by far the more expressed of the ALF genes. From our results, nucleotide sequence variations in shrimp ALFs result in functional divergence, with significant differences in LPS-binding and antimicrobial activities. To our knowledge, this is the first functional characterization of the sequence diversity found in the ALF family.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0067937