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Glycobiology Advance Access published online on April 18, 2007
Glycobiology, doi:10.1093/glycob/cwm044
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Molecular and biochemical characterization of galectin from amphioxus: primitive galectin of chordates participated in the infection processes

Yanhong Yu, Shaochun Yuan, Yingcai Yu, Huiqing Huang, Kaixia Feng, Minming Pan, Shengfeng Huang, Meiling Dong, Shangwu Chen and Anlong Xu*

State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, The Open Laboratory for Marine Functional Genomics of State High-Tech Development Program, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, College of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University, Guangzhou, 510275, People's Republic of China

* Corresponding author Anlong Xu, Ph.D. Professor in Molecular Biology and Immunology, Department of Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University, 135 Xingangxi Road, 510275, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China; Tel: +86-20-84113655, Fax: +86-20-84038377; E-mail: lssxal{at}mail.sysu.edu.cn (Anlong Xu)

Received on February 5, 2007; revised on March 20, 2007; accepted on April 12, 2007

A novel F4-CRD-linker-F3-CRD type bi-CRD galectin BbtGal-L together with its alternatively-spliced mono-CRD isoform BbtGal-S from amphioxus intestine was encoded by a 9,488 bp unique gene with eight exons and seven introns. The recombinant proteins of BbtGal were found to have ß-galactoside binding activity, indicating that BbtGal was a member of galectin family. Phylogenetic analysis of this gene along with its splicing form and genome structure suggested that BbtGal gene was the primitive form of chordate galectin family. Based on realtime PCR analyses, BbtGal mRNA was expressed during the all stages of embryonic development. For tissue distribution, BbtGal-L mRNA was mainly expressed in the immunity-related organs, such as hepatic diverticulum, intestine and gill, but BbtGal-S was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues. The expression of BbtGal-L mRNA was elevated after acute challenge with various microorganisms, but BbtGal-L only bound with specific bacteria. The immune function of BbtGal was consistent with its localization in both outside and inside cell. Our study on amphioxus galectin may help further understanding of the evolution of chordate galectin in terms of host-pathogen interaction in immune system.

Key words: Amphioxus / galectin / infection / evolution


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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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