PUBLICATION
ELAVL1a is an immunocompetent protein that protects zebrafish embryos from bacterial infection
- Authors
- Ni, S., Zhou, Y., Song, L., Chen, Y., Wang, X., Du, X., Zhang, S.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210228-2
- Date
- 2021
- Source
- Communications biology 4: 251 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Lipopolysaccharides/metabolism
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
- ELAV Proteins/genetics
- ELAV Proteins/metabolism*
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish/metabolism*
- Zebrafish/microbiology
- Protein Binding
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
- Lipid A/metabolism
- Phylogeny
- Gram-Negative Bacteria/immunology
- Gram-Negative Bacteria/pathogenicity*
- Teichoic Acids/metabolism
- Mutation
- Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/immunology
- Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/metabolism
- Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/microbiology
- Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/prevention & control*
- Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/immunology
- Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/metabolism
- Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/microbiology
- Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections/prevention & control*
- PubMed
- 33637956 Full text @ Commun Biol
Citation
Ni, S., Zhou, Y., Song, L., Chen, Y., Wang, X., Du, X., Zhang, S. (2021) ELAVL1a is an immunocompetent protein that protects zebrafish embryos from bacterial infection. Communications biology. 4:251.
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that ELAVL1 plays multiple roles, but its overall biological function remains ill-defined. Here we clearly demonstrated that zebrafish ELAVL1a was a lipoteichoic acid (LTA)- and LPS-binding protein abundantly stored in the eggs/embryos of zebrafish. ELAVL1a acted not only as a pattern recognition receptor, capable of identifying LTA and LPS, as well as bacteria, but also as an effector molecule, capable of inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. Furthermore, we reveal that the C-terminal 62 residues of ELAVL1a positioned at 181-242 were indispensable for ELAVL1a antibacterial activity. Additionally, site-directed mutagenesis revealed that the hydrophobic residues Val192/Ile193, as well as the positively charged residues Arg203/Arg204, were the functional determinants contributing to the antimicrobial activity of rELAVL1a. Importantly, microinjection of rELAVL1a into embryos markedly promoted their resistance against pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila challenge, and this pathogen-resistant activity was considerably reduced by co-injection of anti-ELAVL1a antibody or by knockdown with morpholino for elavl1a. Collectively, our results indicate that ELAVL1a is a maternal immune factor that can protect zebrafish embryos from bacterial infection. This work also provides another angle for understanding the biological roles of ELAVL1a.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping