Wnt5b regulates apoptosis in Litopenaeus vannamei against white spot syndrome virus

The Wnt signaling mediated by Wnt proteins that orchestrate and influence a myriad of cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, tumorigenesis, apoptosis, and participation in immune defense during microbe infection. Wnt5b is one of the Wnt signaling molecules that initiate the cascade. In this study, we cloned and characterized a Wnt5b homolog from Litopenaeus vannamei designed as LvWnt5b. The full length of LvWnt5b transcript was 1726 bp with an 1107 bp open reading frame that encoded a 368 aa protein, which contained 24 discontinuous and highly conserved cysteine. Real-time quantitative PCR showed that the transcriptional level of LvWnt5b was down-regulated when infected with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). Knock-down of LvWnt5b resulted in inhibition of the transcriptional level of WSSV gene ie1, indicating that LvWnt5b mediated signaling pathway may play an important role in defense against WSSV infection. When LvWnt5b was silenced, caspase3/7 activity in hemocytes was increased significantly, and the transcription of viral gene was decreased as well. Moreover, overexpression of LvWnt5b in HEK293T cells led to inhibition of caspase3/7 activity, which further proved the role of LvWnt5b in restraining apoptosis. The study showed that the shrimp may decrease the expression of LvWnt5b initiatively to act as an immune defense mechanism against WSSV infection via promoting apoptosis. It will be helpful for understanding the function of Wnt signaling pathway in virus invasion and host defense.