Immunological role of C4 CC chemokine-1 from snakehead murrel Channa striatus

In this study, we have reported a cDNA sequence of C4 CC chemokine identified from snakehead murrel (also known as striped murrel) Channa striatus (named as CsCC-Chem-1) normalized cDNA library constructed by Genome Sequencing FLX™ Technology (GS-FLX™). CsCC-Chem-1 is 641 base pairs (bp) long that contain 438 bp open reading frame (ORF). The ORF encodes a polypeptide of 146 amino acids with a molecular mass of 15 kDa. The polypeptide contains a small cytokine domain at 30-88. The domain carries the CC motif at Cys33-Cys34. In addition, CsCC-Chem-1 consists of another two cysteine residues at C59 and C73, which, together with C33 and C34, make CsCC-Chem-1 as a C4-CC chemokine. CsCC-Chem-1 also contains a 'TCCT' motif at 32-35 as CC signature motif; this new motif may represent new characteristic features, which may lead to some unknown function that needs to be further focused on. Phylogenitically, CsCC-Chem-1 clustered together with CC-Chem-1 from rock bream Oplegnathus fasciatus and European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax. Significantly (P < 0.05) highest gene expression was noticed in spleen and is up-regulated upon fungus (Aphanomyces invadans), bacteria (Aeromonas hydrophila) and virus (poly I:C) infection at various time points. The gene expression results indicate the influence of CsCC-Chem-1 in the immune system of murrel. Overall, the gene expression study showed that the CsCC-Chem-1 is a capable gene to increase the cellular response against various microbial infections. Further, we cloned the coding sequence of CsCC-Chem-1 in pMAL vector and purified the recombinant protein to study the functional properties. The cell proliferation activity of recombinant CsCC-Chem-1 protein showed a significant metabolic activity in a concentration dependant manner. Moreover, the chemotaxis assay showed the capability of recombinant CsCC-Chem-1 protein which can induce the migration of spleen leukocytes in C. striatus. However, this remains to be verified further at molecular and proteomic level.