Identification of a Novel Antibacterial Function of Mammalian Calreticulin

Calreticulin is a highly conserved and multifunctional molecular chaperone ubiquitously expressed in humans and animals. Beyond its well-established roles in calcium homeostasis, protein folding, and immune regulation, recent studies in aquatic species have suggested a previously unrecognized antimicrobial function of calreticulin. These findings raise the question of whether calreticulin also exerts antibacterial activity in terrestrial mammals, which has not been systematically investigated to date. To address this knowledge gap, we successfully constructed and expressed recombinant goat calreticulin using the Pichia pastoris expression system, yielding a protein of over 99% purity that predominantly exists in dimeric form. Functional assays demonstrated that both recombinant goat and human calreticulin exhibited preliminary inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Pasteurella multocida. Calreticulin was capable of binding to these three bacterial species as well as bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Notably, in the presence of Ca²⁺, calreticulin induced bacterial aggregation, indicating a potential mechanism for limiting bacterial dissemination and proliferation. Given the high anatomical, genetic, and physiological similarity between goats and humans-particularly in respiratory tract structure and mucosal immune function-neonatal goats were selected as a relevant model for evaluating the in vivo antimicrobial efficacy of calreticulin. Accordingly, we established an intranasal infection model using Pasteurella multocida to assess the protective role of calreticulin against respiratory bacterial challenge. Following infection, calreticulin expression was markedly upregulated in the nasal mucosa, trachea, and lung tissues. Moreover, intranasal administration of exogenous calreticulin significantly alleviated infection-induced pathological injury to the respiratory system and effectively decreased bacterial loads in infected tissues. Collectively, this study systematically elucidates the antimicrobial activity of calreticulin in a mammalian model and highlights its potential as a natural immune effector, providing novel insights for the development of host-targeted antimicrobial strategies.