A partial genomic characterization and up-regulation of HSP90 by imidazole derivative KK-42 in the shrimp Penaeus vannumei

Aim: HSP90, one of the most important and multifunctional stress proteins in cells, plays important role in cell self-protection and environmental adaptability in crustacean. Our pre- vious study showed that application of imidazole derivative KK-42 can increase survival rate of Penaeus vannumei. In an attempt to research the possible molecular mechanism of KK-42 increasing survival rate in P. vannumei, one HSP90 cDNA sequence from the hepatopancreas was first isolated and then its spatiotemporal expressions were analyzed. Material and Methods: The HSP90 was cloned from the hepatopancreas of P. vannumei using the rapid amplification of cDNAends methods and its sequence was analyzed with biological software. Expression level was determined by real-time PCR. Results: The full-length cDNA contains a 2163 bp open reading frame encoding a predicted protein of 721 amino acids. The P. vannumei HSP90 protein sequence is most closely related to other HSP90 enzymes, the higher mRNA level is detected in hepatopancreas. The hepato- pancreas HSP90 expression is significantly induced by KK-42 and increases more than 69.1 %, even up to 505.5 % and 481.7 % on day 2 and day 3, respectively. Conclusion: The up-regulation of HSP90 expression induced by KK-42 is beneficial to imp- rove adaptability that is likely one of the molecular mechanisms of KK-42 increasing survival