Molecular characterization and expression analysis of complement component 3 in dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus)

Abstract The complement component 3 (C3) is a central component of complement system. All three pathways converge at formation of C3 convertases and share the terminal pathways of membrane attack complex (MAC) formation. In this study, three isoforms of C3 were discovered in Misgurnus anguillicaudatus , named “C3-1”, “C3-2” and “C3-3”, respectively. The full-length of C3-1 cDNA sequence was firstly identified and analyzed from dojo loach ( Misgurnus anguillicaudatus ). The Ma -C3-1 cDNA sequence comprised of 4509 bp encoding 1454 amino acids with a putative signal peptide of 20 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence showed that Ma -C3-1 has conserved residues and domain, which are known to be crucial for C3 function. Interestingly, an amino acid substitution of the highly conserved GCGEQ was discovered in Ma -C3-1. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Ma -C3-1 was closely related to Cyprinidae. The mRNA expression levels of three isoforms of C3 were detected in kidney, eye, spleen, gonad, heart, fin ray, gut, muscle, brain, gill, skin, blood and liver. The expression of Ma -C3-1 and Ma -C3-3 were mainly detected in liver, followed by spleen, gonad. However, the high expression of Ma -C3-2 was found in kidney, followed by blood and gonad. The morphological changes of gill and skin, and the expression pattern of these three isoforms C3 molecular following the infection with Aeromonas hydrophila were investigated. The mRNA expression levels of three C3 isoforms were up-regulated in the gill, skin, liver and spleen after infection with A.hydrophila . Similarly, challenge experiments resulted in significant up-regulated expression of other complement-relevant genes in gill, liver and skin, such as C4, C5, C8b, especially at 24 h and 36 h. These results suggest that complement system might play an important role not only in liver, but also in the mucosal tissues as gill and skin of teleost fish.