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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of Intact Phycobilisome in Cyanobacteria
Published on: November 10, 2021
Molecular cloning and characterization of a hemocyanin from Sepiella maindroni
Ronghua Li1, Zhuting Xu2, Changkao Mu1
1Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Zhejiang Marine High-efficiency and Healthy Aquaculture, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
Abstract:
Hemocyanins are respiratory proteins occurring freely dissolved in the hemolymph of many arthropods and molluscs. Hemocyanin and hemocyanin-derived peptides have been linked to key aspects of innate immunity. In the present study, the full-length cDNA encoding hemocyanin in Sepiella maindroni (SmHc) was cloned and characterized. Bioinformatic analysis predicted that SmHc contains one open reading frame of 10,032 bp and encodes a polypeptide of 3343 amino acids. Sequence analysis showed that the predicted protein sequence of SmHc contained eight functional units (FUs). Phylogenic analysis revealed that SmHc clustered with the mollusc Hcs. Quantitative real-time PCR assay detected SmHc transcripts were in a wide range of tissues, but mainly distributed in gills. After hypoxia or bacterial challenge, the expression level of SmHc in the gills was significantly higher than that of the control group. These results suggested that SmHc might play important roles in oxygen transport and the modulation of immune response in S. maindroni.

