CgA1AR-1 acts as an alpha-1 adrenergic receptor in oyster Crassostrea gigas mediating both cellular and humoral immune response.

We have now cloned an alpha-1 adrenergic receptor (A1AR) from the cDNA library of oyster Crassostrea gigas, designating as CgA1AR-1. The full length of CgA1AR-1 was 1149 bp and it encodes a protein of 382 amino acids containing a 7 transmembrane domain, whose putative topology was similar to the A1ARs in higher organisms and shared similarity of 19% with mammalian A1ARs according to the phylogenic analysis. After cell transfection of CgA1AR-1 into HEK293T cells and the incubation with its specific agonist norepinephrine (NE), the concentration of second messenger Ca(2+) increased significantly (p < 0.05). But, this increasing of Ca(2+) could be inhibited by adding A1AR antagonist DOX. Tissue distribution assays using qRT-PCR suggested that CgA1AR-1 mRNA was ubiquitously expressed in all the major tissues of oyster. LPS stimulation could induce the up-regulation of CgA1AR-1 mRNA in haemocytes from 12 h to 24 h post stimulation. Moreover, the blocking of CgA1AR-1 by DOX before LPS stimulation affected the mRNA expression of oyster TNF (CGI_10005109 and CGI_10006440) in haemocytes, resulting in the rise of haemocyte phagocytic rate and apoptosis index. In addition to cellular immunity, CgA1AR-1 was also involved in humoral immunity of oyster. Inhibition of CgA1AR-1 with DOX could repress the up-regulation of LZY and SOD activities caused by LPS stimulation. These results suggested that CgA1AR-1 acted as an α-1 adrenergic receptor in cetacholaminergic neuroendocrine-immune network mediating both cellular and humoral immune response.