No Cover Image

Journal article 532 views 99 downloads

Extracellular vesicle signatures and protein citrullination are modified in shore crabs (Carcinus maenas) infected with Hematodinium sp

Christopher Coates, Igor Kraev Orcid Logo, Andrew Rowley, Sigrun Lange Orcid Logo

Virulence, Volume: 14, Issue: 1

Swansea University Authors: Christopher Coates, Andrew Rowley

  • 62681_VoR.pdf

    PDF | Version of Record

    © 2023 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

    Download (2.38MB)

Abstract

Epizootiologists recurrently encounter symbionts and pathobionts in the haemolymph (blood equivalent) of shellfish. One such group is the dinoflagellate genus Hematodinium, which contains several species that cause debilitating disease in decapod crustaceans. The shore crab Carcinus maenas acts as a...

Full description

Published in: Virulence
ISSN: 2150-5594 2150-5608
Published: Informa UK Limited 2023
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62681
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Abstract: Epizootiologists recurrently encounter symbionts and pathobionts in the haemolymph (blood equivalent) of shellfish. One such group is the dinoflagellate genus Hematodinium, which contains several species that cause debilitating disease in decapod crustaceans. The shore crab Carcinus maenas acts as a mobile reservoir of microparasites, including Hematodinium sp., thereby posing a risk to other co-located commercially important species, e.g. velvet crabs (Necora puber). Despite the widespread prevalence and documented seasonality of Hematodinium infection dynamics, there is a knowledge gap regarding host-pathogen antibiosis, namely, how Hematodinium avoids the host’s immune defences. Herein, we interrogated the haemolymph of Hematodinium-positive and Hematodinium-negative crabs for extracellular vesicle (EV) profiles (a proxy for cellular communication), alongside proteomic signatures for post-translational citrullination/deimination performed by arginine deiminases, which can infer a pathologic state. Circulating EV numbers in parasitized crab haemolymph were reduced significantly, accompanied by smaller EV modal size profiles (albeit non-significantly) when compared to Hematodinium-negative controls. Differences were observed for citrullinated/deiminated target proteins in the haemolymph between the parasitized and control crabs, with fewer hits identified overall in the former. Three deiminated proteins specific to parasitized crab haemolymph were actin, Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (DSCAM), and nitric oxide synthase – factors that contribute to innate immunity. We report, for the first time, Hematodinium sp. could interfere with EV biogenesis, and that protein deimination is a putative mechanism of immune-modulation in crustacean-Hematodinium interactions.
Keywords: Peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD); arginine deiminase (ADI); innate immunity; haemocytes; cell-cell communication; marine disease
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: ARCH UK; BB/P017215/1
Issue: 1