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A Novel Isoform of the Hepatic Antimicrobial Peptide, Hepcidin (Hepc-CB1), from a Deep-Sea Fish, the Spinyjaw Greeneye Chlorophthalmus bicornis (Norman, 1939): Molecular Characterisation and Phylogeny

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Abstract

Hepcidin is cysteine-rich short peptide of innate immune system of fishes, equipped to perform prevention and proliferation of invading pathogens like bacteria and viruses by limiting iron availability and activating intracellular cascades. Hepcidins are diverse in teleost fishes, due to the varied aquatic environments including exposure to pathogens, oxygenation and iron concentration. In the present study, we report a 87-amino acid (aa) preprohepcidin (Hepc-CB1) with a signal peptide of 24 aa, a prodomain of 39 aa and a bioactive mature peptide of 24 aa from the gill mRNA transcripts of the deep-sea fish spinyjaw greeneye, Chlorophthalmus bicornis. Molecular characterisation and phylogenetic analysis categorised the peptide to HAMP2-like group with a mature peptide of 2.53 kDa; a net positive charge (+3) and capacity to form β-hairpin-like structure configured by 8 conserved cysteines. The present work provides new insight into the mass gene duplication events and adaptive evolution of hepcidin isoforms with respect to environmental influences and positive Darwinian selection. This work reports a novel hepcidin isoform under the group HAMP2 from a non-acanthopterygian deep-sea fish, C. bicornis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India, for the research grant (MoES/10-MLR/2/2007) and scientific/technical support for the work. Thanks are due to the crew of the research vessel FORV Sagar Samapda for their wholehearted support during the sample collection and Mr. Vinu Jacob, Research scholar, Department of Marine biology Microbiology and Biochemistry, CUSAT, Kochi-16, for the assistance in the taxonomic identification of the fish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi, 682016, Kerala, India

    E. R. Chaithanya, Rosamma Philip, Naveen Sathyan, P. R. Anil Kumar & Swapna P. Antony

  2. Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Kakkanad, Kochi, 682037, Kerala, India

    V. N. Sanjeevan

  3. National Centre for Aquatic Animal Health (NCAAH), CUSAT, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi, 682016, Kerala, India

    Swapna P. Antony & I. S. Bright Singh

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  1. E. R. Chaithanya
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Correspondence to Rosamma Philip.

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Chaithanya, E.R., Philip, R., Sathyan, N. et al. A Novel Isoform of the Hepatic Antimicrobial Peptide, Hepcidin (Hepc-CB1), from a Deep-Sea Fish, the Spinyjaw Greeneye Chlorophthalmus bicornis (Norman, 1939): Molecular Characterisation and Phylogeny. Probiotics & Antimicro. Prot. 5, 1–7 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-012-9120-0

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