Biological Functional Analysis of MBL Gene in Resistance to Cadmium Stress in Exopalaemon carinicauda

Abstract:

In order to study the expression profile of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) in response to the stress of heavy metal cadmium (Cd2+) in the ridgetail white prawn, Exopalaemon carinicauda, changes of MBL expression level during 96 h of stress were analyzed in the tissue of hepatopancreas. Five Cd2+ stress concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.0175, 0.021 and 0.0278 mmol/L) were set up in the experiment, and the samples were taken at 8 time points, i.e. 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after Cd2+ stress. The real-time fluorescence quantitative results showed that under the stress of high concentration of Cd2+ (0.0175, 0.021 and 0.0278 mmol/L), the expression level of MBL gene in the ridgetail white prawn increased first, then decreased after reaching the peak at 72 h. There are significant differences between experimental group and control group at all the stress time points. When the cadmium ion was 0.01 mmol/L, a lower concentration, the expression level of MBL gene in the ridgetail white prawn tends to decrease from the beginning. Further interfering down the expression level of MBL using the RNA technology, it was discovered that the mortality rate of Cd2+ stressed individuals were higher than those of the control group. This study showed that MBL potentially took part in the protection of E. carinicada from Cd2+ stress.