Examination of crustacean immune responses through dsRNA-nanoparticle injection and phylogenetic analysis

Abstract

Crustaceans are a group of economically and culturally valuable species in Canada both as wild-caught and cultured. Increasing the knowledge of the crustacean innate immune system will provide valuable information that can be utilized in policy decisions impacting crustacean aquaculture and fisheries. This study examined several features of the crustacean immune system. A novel nanoparticle-synthetic dsRNA analogue complex was tested for use as a dsRNA delivery system on Faxinious propinquus. The experiments resulted in the discovery of 404 differentially expressed transcripts, 41 associated with the synthetic dsRNA analogue alone and 382 associated with the nanoparticle-synthetic dsRNA analogue complex. Immune-related differentially expressed transcripts were found only with the nanoparticle complex. A crustacean antimicrobial peptide, crustin, was examined across the order Decapoda. A phylogeny of the crustin sequences suggests a long period of time between gene duplication events in the common ancestor.