The male seahorse synthesizes and secretes a novel C‐type lectin into the brood pouch during early pregnancy

Abstract

The male seahorse incubates its young in a manner resembling that of a mammalian pregnancy. After the female deposits her eggs into the male's brood pouch they are fertilized and the embryos develop and grow for several weeks until they are able to withstand the external environmental conditions independently, at which point they are irreversibly released. Although the precise function of the brood pouch is not clear, it is probably related to providing a suitable protective and osmotic environment for the young. The aim of this project was to construct and characterize a cDNA library made from the tissue lining the pouch, in order to help understand the molecular mechanisms regulating its development and function. The library profile indicates expression of genes encoding proteins involved in metabolism and transport, as well as structural proteins, gene regulatory proteins, and other proteins whose function is unknown. However, a large portion of the library contained genes encoding C‐type lectins (CTLs), of which three full‐length proteins were identified and found to contain a signal peptide and a single C‐lectin domain, possessing all the conserved structural elements. We have produced recombinant protein for one of these and raised antisera; we have shown, using Western analysis and 2D electrophoresis, that this protein is secreted in significant quantities into the pouch fluid specifically during early pregnancy. Preliminary functional studies indicate that this CTL causes erythrocyte agglutination and may help to repress bacterial growth.

When fathers make the difference: efficacy of male sexually selected antimicrobial glands in enhancing fish hatching success

“…The blenny AGS is the first clear example of antimicrobials specifically produced for paternal protection of eggs as opposed to male antimicrobials produced by the skin or the brood pouch which surely contribute to the father’s protection as well (Knouft, Page & Plewa 2003; Melamed et al. 2005).…”

“…For instance, C‐type lectins, involved in protection from pathogenic penetration (Chong et al. 2006), are expressed in the brood pouch of male seahorses during early pregnancy (Melamed et al. 2005) and in the parental mucus of cichlids with biparental care (Chong et al.…”

Transcriptomic approach to the study of osmoregulation in the European eelAnguilla anguilla

“…The C-type lectins are involved in many immune-system functions, from inflammation to identification of tumors and virally infected cells (25). They can cause erythrocyte agglutination and may help to repress bacterial growth (73). The changes in expression of C-type lectin suggest that the functional role of this gene is more important in FW than SW.…”

A Proteomic Comparison of Immature and Mature Mouse Gonadotrophs Reveals Novel Differentially Expressed Nuclear Proteins that Regulate Gonadotropin Gene Transcription and RNA Splicing1

“…Trace bromophenol blue was also added to visualize the rehydration process. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) was then carried out as previously [18]. …”

“…Both wash and extraction solution were pooled and the procedure was repeated before the pooled solutions were dried to completion. The dried, digested peptides were redissolved and applied to the MALDI plates for peptide mass fingerprinting using the PerSeptive Biosystems Voyager-DE STR BioSpectrometry Workstation (PerSeptive Biosystems, Framingham, FA), as previously [18], and analyzed by the Data Explorer accompanying software. The masses of the peptides were queried against the NCBI non-redundant (nr) database using the Ms-Fit program (http://prospector.ncsf.edu), the Mascot program from Matrix Sciences (http://www.MatrixScience.com), or using Aldente (http://www.expasy.org/tools/aldente/) against the Swiss-Prot/TrEMBL databases.…”