Abstract:
In this study, we investigated the expression of
FMRFamide in vivo of
Onchidium reevesii after inflammatory stimulus, and the molecular mechanism of FMRFamide polypeptide maintaining homeostasis. Based on a fragment of
FMRFamide gene from the transcriptome of
O. reevesii, we obtained the full-length cDNA of
FMRFamide gene as 2 618 bp by RACE (Rapid-amplification of cDNA ends), including an open reading frame (ORF, 882 bp) which encoded a total of 293 amino acids. The results of the phylogenetic tree suggest that the
FMRFamide gene of
O. reevesii was most closely related to that of
Lymnaea stagnalis, which is consistent with traditional morphological classification. The qRT-PCR results indicate that
FMRFamide mRNA was distributed in different tissues of
O. reevesii, but the expression in ganglion was very significantly higher than that in skin, hemocyte, hepatopancreas, muscle, gonad and pleopod (
P<0.01). Immunohistochemistry verified the consistency of the FMRFamide peptide with mRNA distribution in tissues. The inflammatory stimulation experiment shows that the mRNA expression levels of
FMRFamide gene in ganglia, hepatopancreas, hemocyte and skin were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection (
P<0.05), reaching the maximum value at 12
th hour after stimulation. In conclusion,
O. reevesii FMRFamide is mainly found in ganglia and is involved in collective immune regulation through neuroendocrine system, playing a significant role in maintaining the stability of tumefaciens
in vivo under inflammatory stimuli.