• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2007

Penaeidins are members of a special family of antimicrobial peptides existing in several species of shrimp and play a crucial role in the immunological defense of shrimp. In this study, we isolated and characterized one EST clone (penaeidin) from cDNA library of fleshy prawn Fenneropenaeus chinensis hemocytes. Amino acids sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis with other known penaeidins revealed that our clone was completely identical to F. chinensis Penaeidin 3-2 (Accession no. ABC33920), which composed of 71 amino acids with a putative signal peptide (1-19) and a cysteine-rich domain (C-terminal part). The expression and distribution of Penaeidin 3-2 transcripts in shrimp were detected in hemocytes, hepatopancreas, and muscles, and that Penaeidin 3-2 was constitutively expressed mainly in hemocytes. The artificial infection of white spot syndrome virus to F. chinensis resulted in Penaeidin 3-2 mRNA up-regulation in hemocytes, suggesting that the possible role of Penaeidin 3-2 in host defense system of F. chinensis.