Cloning and expression analysis of eIF5A gene from Litopenaeus vannamei.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A( eIF5A) is a protein-translation initiation factor in eukaryotic cells. Recent studies found that eIF5A plays an important role in regulating the processes of cellular senescence and death,environmental stress response and immune response in animal and plant cells. In the present study,a cDNA containing the complete amino acid sequence of eIF5A was obtained for the first time by sequencing the Litopenaeus vannamei cDNA library, which contained a 474 bp long open reading frame encoding 157 amino acids,with the predicted molecular weight of about 17. 257 ku and theoretical isoelectric point of 5. 06. Comparison analysis showed that the amino acid sequence of eIF5A gene in L. vannamei shared relatively high homology with that in other species. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR results indicated that the mRNA expression of eIF5A gene in different tissues of L. vannamei exhibited no significant difference. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis of L. vannamei hepatopancreas infected with WSSV,TSV and IHHNV showed that the mRNA levels of eIF5A gene was respectively significantly increased,which was 2. 2,2. 5 and 1. 6 times of that in control group,indicating that eIF5A may be involved in the antiviral immune response of L. vannamei.