The antifungal peptide mytimycin (MytM) is synthesized by hemocytes of the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis. In addition to sequence and gene structure diversities previously reported from pooled hemocytes, the present report focused on the expression of mytm gene in individual M. galloprovincialis, before and after challenge. Within untreated mussel, MytM mRNA was observed by IS...

Neurogenesis is an ongoing process in the brains of adult decapod crustaceans. However, the first-generation precursors that produce adult-born neurons, which reside in a neurogenic niche, are not self-renewing in crayfish and must be replenished. The source of these neuronal precursors is unknown. Here, we report that adult-born neurons in crayfish can be derived from hemocytes. Following adop...

Nano-scale nipple array on the body surface has been described from various invertebrates including endoparasitic and mesoparasitic copepods, but the functions of the nipple array is not well understood. Using the hydrophilized nanopillar sheets made of polystyrene as a mimetic material of the nipple arrays on the parasites’ body surface, we assayed the cell spreading and phagocytosis of the he...

Ultrastructures of circulating hemocytes were studied in 9 botryllid ascidians. The hemocytes are classified into five types: hemoblasts, phagocytes, granulocytes, morula cells, and pigment cells. These five types are always found in the 9 species. They should represent the major hemocyte types of the circulating cells in the blood. Hemoblasts are small hemocytes having a high nucleus/cytoplasm...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of the Mytilus galloprovincialis lysozyme gene in different in vivo stress situations, including injection of bacteria Vibrio splendidus LGP32, Vibrio anguillarum or Micrococcus lysodeikticus, as well as heat shock at 30 degrees C and cold stress at 5 degrees C. Injection of V. splendidus LGP32 resulted in: (i) a general down-regulatio...

The stimulation of hemocytes during phagocytosis leads to the generation of a series of oxygen radicals known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). Among these, hydrogen peroxide plays an important microbicidal role by directly killing microorganisms or by sewing as an intermediate for other antimicrobial radicals. In this study, we adapted a technique using 2',7'dichlorofluorescein-diacetate (DCFH...

To understand molecular responses of crustacean hemocytes to virus infection, we applied 2-DE proteomics approach to investigate altered proteins in hemocytes of Penaeus vannamei during Taura syndrome virus (TSV) infection. At 24 h postinfection, quantitative intensity analysis and nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS revealed 11 forms of 8 proteins that were significantly up-regulated, whereas 9 forms of 5 prote...

Using a chemiluminescence (CL) test, it had been previously demonstrated that Vibrio pectenicida, which is pathogenic to Pecten maximus larvae, was able to inhibit completely the CL activity of P. maximus hemocytes and partially inhibit those of Crassostrea gigas. Conversely, a Vibrio sp. strain, S322, pathogenic to C. gigas larvae was more active in reducing the CL activity of oyster hemocytes...

Spiroplasma is a novel pathogen of commercially exploited crustaceans. To more full clarify its pathogenic mechanism at the molecular level in vitro, a spiroplasma-infected hemocytes model was developed as described here, using a modified method of hemocytes culture from the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis. It has been standardized by employing L-15 growth medium supplemented with 15% fe...

Drosophila embryos are well studied developmental microcosms that have been used extensively as models for early development and more recently wound repair. Here we extend this work by looking at embryos as model systems for following bacterial infection in real time. We examine the behaviour of injected pathogenic (Photorhabdus asymbiotica) and non-pathogenic (Escherichia coli) bacteria and th...