Leucine-rich repeats containing protein functions in the antibacterial immune reaction in stomach of kuruma shrimp Marsupenaeus japonicus

Leucine rich repeat (LRR) motif exists in many immune receptors of animals and plants. Most LRR containing (LRRC) proteins are involved in protein-ligand and protein-protein interaction, but the exact functions of most LRRC proteins were not well-studied. In this study, an LRRC protein was identified from kuruma shrimp Marsupenaeus japonicus, and named as MjLRRC1. MjLRRC1 was consistently expressed in different tissues of normal shrimp with higher expression in gills and stomach. At the transcriptional level, there were no significant changes of MjLRRC1 after injection of Vibrio anguillarum or Staphylococcus aureus in gills and hepatopancreas. While in V. anguillarum oral infection, MjLRRC1 was upregulated in stomach but not in intestine. The recombinant MjLRRC1 protein could bind to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, bacterial cell wall components including peptidoglycan, lipoteichoic acid, and lipopolysaccharide. MjLRRC1 regulated the expression of some antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes and participated in bacteria clearance of stomach. All these results suggested that MjLRRC1 might play important roles in antibacterial immune response of kuruma shrimp.