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Molecular cloning and characterization of a threonine/serine protein kinase lvakt from Litopenaeus vannamei

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Abstract

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway is involved in various cellular functions, including anti-apoptosis, protein synthesis, glucose metabolism and cell cycling. However, the role of the PI3K-AKT pathway in crustaceans remains unclear. In the present study, we cloned and characterized the AKT gene lvakt from Litopenaeus vannamei. The 511-residue LVAKT was highly conserved; contained a PH domain, a catalytic domain and a hydrophobic domain; and was highly expressed in the heart and gills of L. vannamei. We found, using Real-Time Quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) analysis, that lvakt was up-regulated during early white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection. Moreover, the PI3K-specific inhibitor, LY294002, reduced viral gene transcription, implying that the PI3K-AKT pathway might be hijacked by WSSV. Our results therefore suggest that LVAKT may play an important role in the shrimp immune response against WSSV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), Xiamen, 361005, China

    Lingwei Ruan  (阮灵伟), Rongdiao Liu  (刘荣雕), Xun Xu  (徐洵) & Hong Shi  (施泓)

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  1. Lingwei Ruan  (阮灵伟)
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  2. Rongdiao Liu  (刘荣雕)
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  3. Xun Xu  (徐洵)
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  4. Hong Shi  (施泓)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lingwei Ruan  (阮灵伟).

Additional information

Supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of Third Institute of Oceanography, SOA (No. 2011018), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (No. 2011J05079), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31001125), the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2012CB114403), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2012AA092205), and the China Agriculture Research System-47

RUAN Lingwei and LIU Rongdiao contributed equally to this work.

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Ruan, L., Liu, R., Xu, X. et al. Molecular cloning and characterization of a threonine/serine protein kinase lvakt from Litopenaeus vannamei . Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 32, 792–798 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-014-3295-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-014-3295-z

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