Molecular cloning and characterisation of a thioester-containing alpha2-macroglobulin (alpha2-M) from the haemocytes of mud crab Scylla serrata.

Molecular approaches were used to clone thioester-containing alpha2-macroglobulin (alpha2-M) genes in the haemocytes of mud crab Scylla serrata. The full length sequence of alpha2-M was determined by RT-PCR, cloning and sequencing of overlapping PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence revealed that the alpha2-M cDNA clone consists of 5491bp with an open reading frame (ORF) of 4986bp encoding a protein of 1662 amino acids with 22 residues signal sequence. The calculated molecular mass of the mature protein is 184.2kDa with an estimated pI of 8.41. The S. serrata alpha2-M sequence contains putative functional domains including a GCGEQNM thioester region, a bait region, and a receptor-binding domain which are present in other invertebrate and vertebrate alpha2-Ms. Sequence comparison showed that alpha2-M deduced amino acid sequence of S. serrata has an overall similarity of 68% and 48% to that of kuruma shrimp Marsupenaeus japonicus and American horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus, respectively. Phylogentic analysis revealed that S. serrata alpha2-M is closely related to other arthropod alpha2-M, and displays the highest similarity to M. japonicus alpha2-M. The alpha2-M was mainly expressed in haemocytes. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that alpha2-M mRNA transcript in haemocytes of S. serrata increased significantly in 24h- and 48h-post lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection.