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Published on: August 8, 2018
Toward understanding barnacle cementing by characterization of one cement protein-100kDa in Amphibalanus amphitrite
Li-Sheng He1, Gen Zhang2, Yong Wang1
1Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan Province, 572000, China; Division of Life Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Abstract:
Barnacles, as major fouling organisms, have attracted more attentions. It is no doubt that the study on cement proteins is required to illustrate the mechanism of barnacle cementing. A cement protein defined as Aa-cp100k was characterized from Amphibalanus amphitrite in this study. The amino acid sequence of Aa-cp100k was shown a high similarity to other three barnacles including Megabalanus rosa (Mr-cp100k), Tetraclita japonica formosana (Tj-cp100k) and Pollicipes pollicipes (Pp-cp100k). Moreover, the localization of Aa-cp100k in the vacuoles of cyprid β secretory cells and the adult cement gland cells by immunofluorescence microscopy, indicating that Aa-cp100k existed in both cyprid and adult barnacle. Aa-cp100k from basal plate could be dissolved in urea buffer without high concentration of dithiothreitol (DTT), different from that in Megabalanus rosa, implying diverse possible roles of cp100k in cementing.
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