Two hepcidins from spotted scat (Scatophagus argus) possess antibacterial and antiviral functions in vitro.
Hepcidins are small cysteine rich antimicrobial peptides that play an important role in host immunity against pathogenic organisms. In this study, two hepcidins, SA hepcidin1 and SA hepcidin2, were cloned from spotted scat (Scatophagus argus) and the tissue distributions of SA hepcidins were determined. In addition, mature SA hepcidin peptides were synthesized to allow evaluation of their antimicrobial and antiviral functions in vitro. SA hepcidin1 belongs to the HAMP1 class and is widely expressed in all tested tissues from spotted scat, whereas SA hepcidin2 belongs to the HAMP2 class and present only in the liver. The synthetic SA hepcidins had similar levels of antibacterial activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria; however, the antibacterial activity of SA hepcidin1 was stronger than that of SA hepcidin2. The antiviral activities of the synthetic SA hepcidins were assessed against Siniperca chuatsi rhabdovirus (SCRV) and largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides reovirus (MsReV) in epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) and grass carp fin (GCF) cells. SA hepcidin2 had antiviral activity, but SA hepcidin1 did not. The results of this study suggest that SA hepcidins are important multifunctional proteins in the spotted scat immune system that are involved in resistance to various pathogens.
Fish shellfish immunology