Functional Studies of Some Immune Relevant Genes in a Crustacean

The freshwater crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, mounts a strong innate immune response against microbes such as viruses and bacteria. In this thesis, a novel RNA interference (RNAi) method mediated with histone H2A was developed and applied in crayfish hematopoietic tissue cell cultures for gene functional studies. Further, the interactions between host (crayfish) and pathogens (white spot syndrome virus and Aeromonas hydrophila, respectively) were studied using RNAi technology in live animals. An antilipopolysaccharide factor isolated from viral challenged crayfish by suppression subtractive hybridization was shown to interfere with the propagation of white spot syndrome virus both in vivo and in vitro in crayfish, suggesting an important role of this factor in antiviral defense. Besides, RNAi of phenoloxidase, a critical immune effector involved in melanization, revealed that phenoloxidase activity is necessary for crayfish immune defense against a highly pathogenic bacterial infection in crayfish. In addition, RNAi was also employed to study a marker protein gene involved in hemocyte maturation in crayfish. Taken together, these studies may provide more insights into the immune responses against pathogen invasion as well as hemocyte ontogenesis in crustaceans