A new shrimp peritrophin-like gene from Exopalaemon carinicauda involved in white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection

Peritrophin was first separated from insect peritrophic membrane (PM), and it played an important role in stimulating the digestion of food and protecting insects from invasion by microorganisms. In this study, a full-length cDNA of a new peritrophin-like protein (EcPT) was cloned from the ridgetail white shrimp Exopalaemon carinicauda, which was an excellent experimental animal for shrimp. The full length cDNA comprised 1235 bp including an 873 bp open reading frame encoding 291 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence contained a segment of signal peptide and three conserved chitin binding type 2 domains (ChtBD2) characterized by having a 6-cysteine motif. Tissue expression analysis revealed that EcPT was mainly expressed in stomach and gills, which were also the two main target tissues of WSSV infection. The transcription levels of EcPT in both stomach and gills were found to have significantly changed upon WSSV infection by real-time PCR. Silencing EcPT by dsRNA interference led to higher survival rate of shrimp against WSSV challenge, which suggested that EcPT might be involved in WSSV infection.