Generation of clade- and symbiont-specific antibodies to characterize marker molecules during Cnidaria-Symbiodinium endosymbiosis.

The endosymbiosis between cnidarians and dinoflagellates is responsible for the formation of coral reefs. Changes in molecules have been identified during the process of cnidaria-Symbiodinium endosymbiosis. However, the complexity of the molecular interaction has prevented the establishment of a mechanistic explanation of cellular regulation in this mutualistic symbiosis.

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein hrp36 acts as an alternative splicing repressor in Litopenaeus vannamei Dscam.

Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) are highly conserved from nematode to mammal because they play an important role in several aspects of pre-mRNA maturation, including RNA packaging and alternative splicing. In Drosophila, the hnRNP A1 homolog hrp36 regulates alternative splicing in several genes, including the Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam), which produces tens of thousands of isoforms from one locus. In this study, the first hrp36 gene was identified and characterized from Litopenaeus vannamei (Lvhrp36).

Penaeus monodon Dscam (PmDscam) has a highly diverse cytoplasmic tail and is the first membrane-bound shrimp Dscam to be reported.

Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) seems likely to play a key role in the "alternative adaptive immunity" that has been reported in invertebrates. Dscam consists of a cytoplasmic tail that is involved in signal transduction and a hypervariable extracellular region that might use a pathogen recognition mechanism similar to that used by the vertebrate antibodies. In our previous paper, we isolated a unique tail-less form of Dscam from Litopenaeus vannamei.

The putative invertebrate adaptive immune protein Litopenaeus vannamei Dscam (LvDscam) is the first reported Dscam to lack a transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail.

It has recently been suggested that Dscam (Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule), a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF), plays an essential role in the alternative adaptive immune system of invertebrates. Here, we isolated and characterized the first shrimp Dscam from Litopenaeus vannamei. The LvDscam protein had an extracellular domain but lacked the expected transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail, both of which are found in all other members of the Dscam family (and may also be found in other L.