Identification and characterization of peroxiredoxin 1 from Lateolabrax japonicus under biotic and abiotic stresses

The peroxiredoxins (Prxs) belong to a novel and evolutionarily conserved superfamily, which can protect cells from oxidative damage caused by ROS and play a vital role in immune responses. In the present study, a 995 base pairs (bp) Prx1 cDNA sequence (LjPrx1) with an open reading frame of 594 bp, which encoding 197 amino acid polypeptides was obtained from L. japonicus. Transcriptional expression analysis indicated that the LjPrx1 mRNA was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues tested, while a comparatively high expression level was detected in head-kidney and blood. After the recombinant LjPrx1 protein was acquired using a prokaryotic expression method, the antioxidant activity was assessed by the catalyzing hydrogen peroxide assay method, and the results showed that the recombinant LjPrx1 possessed an antioxidant activity in a temperature-dependent manner. To further study the function roles of LjPrx1 related to biotic and abiotic stresses, the head-kidney and blood were chosen for the following experiments, and a positive correlation between the expression of LjPrx1 and the different stresses was detected using qRT-PCR. In conclusion, this study provides useful information about the role of the LjPrx1 gene in defense against a variety of toxic factors in L. japonicus, which would broaden our current knowledge of Prx1.