The family of TRIM proteins with E3 ubiquitin ligase activity plays important roles in virus infection in vertebrates and invertebrates. In this study, a novel Trim gene shows high similarity to Trim23 (designated as MnTrim23) was identified from Macrobrachium nipponense. The MnTrim23 protein contains three conserved domains (one RING finger domain, two B-box, and one Coiled-coil region) at its N-terminal and one ARF domain at its C-terminal. The ARF domain characterizes the members of the Trim23 family. MnTrim23 belongs to C-IX family. Phylogenetic analysis shows that MnTrim23 has a closer genetic distance with other Trim23 proteins from invertebrates than that from vertebrates. MnTrim23 has higher expression level in the intestine and hepatopancreas than in the other immune tissues. The expression levels of MnTrim23 in the gills, stomach, and intestines are significantly up-regulated after white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection. Moreover, knockdown of MnTrim23 inhibits WSSV replication and VP28 expression, suggesting that MnTrim23 plays a positive role in WSSV infection. Further studies revealed that MnTrim23 negatively regulates the Relish transcription factor-mediated expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Synthetic AMPs inhibit VP28 expression and WSSV replication. These findings indicate that Trim23 promotes WSSV replication by inhibiting the expression of AMPs that are positively regulated by the host NF-κB signal pathway.

具有E3泛素连接酶活性的TRIM蛋白家族在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物的病毒感染中起重要作用。在这项研究中，从日本沼虾中鉴定出了一种新的Trim基因，该基因与Trim23（称为MnTrim23）具有高度相似性。MnTrim23蛋白在其N端包含3个保守域（一个RING指结构域，两个B-box和一个Coiled-coil区域），在其C端包含一个ARF域。ARF域是Trim23家族成员的特征。MnTrim23属于C-IX家族。系统发育分析表明，MnTrim23与无脊椎动物的其他Trim23蛋白相比，与脊椎动物的遗传距离更近。MnTrim23在肠和肝胰腺中的表达水平高于其他免疫组织。感染白斑综合症病毒后，g，胃和肠中MnTrim23的表达水平显着上调。此外，敲低MnTrim23抑制WSSV复制和VP28表达，表明MnTrim23在WSSV感染中发挥积极作用。进一步的研究表明，MnTrim23负调控Relish转录因子介导的抗菌肽（AMPs）的表达。合成AMP抑制VP28表达和WSSV复制。这些发现表明Trim23 通过抑制受宿主NF-κB信号通路正调控的AMPs的表达来促进WSSV复制。