Molecular characterization of Ran gene up-regulated in large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea) immunity

RanGTPase, one family of small G protein superfamily, has been widely demonstrated to be involved in transport system between cytoplasm and nucleus. However the knowledge about the function of RanGTPase in immunity remains limited. In this report, Ran gene (named LycRan) cDNA was cloned from the large yellow croaker, Pseudosciaena crocea, a marine fish. The full-length cDNA of LycRan was of 1033 bp, including a 5′-terminal untranslated region (UTR) of 43 bp, 3′-terminal UTR of 338 bp and an open reading frame (ORF) of 648 bp encoding a polypeptide of 216 amino acids. The deduced protein is highly homologous, it shares 90.74%, 88.89%, 89.35% and 85.20% identities with those of salmon, frog, human and fruit fly respectively. RT-PCR analysis indicated that LycRan gene was constitutively expressed in 9 tissues examined, including kidney, liver, gill, muscle, spleen, skin, heart, intestine and blood. The result of quantitative Real-Time RT-PCR analysis revealed the highest expression in kidney and the weakest expression in skin. Time course analysis showed that LycRan expression was obviously up-regulated in kidney, blood and spleen after immunization with either poly I:C or formalin-inactive Gram-negative bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus. It indicated that the highest expression was 2.8 times (at 48 h) as much as that in the control in the kidney (p < 0.05) challenged by poly I:C and 3.2 times (at 24 h) in the blood (p < 0.05) challenged by bacteria. These results suggested that LycRan might play an important role in large yellow croaker defense against the pathogen infection. Our study, therefore, might provide a clue to elucidate the large yellow croaker innate immunity.