Although, in mammals, the Krüppel-like transcription factor 13 (KLF13) plays an essential role in cell proliferation, survival, differentiation, apoptosis, tumorigenesis, immune regulation, and inflammation, its role in penaeid shrimp is unclear. In the current study, we characterized a KLF13 homolog in Penaeus vannamei (PvKLF13), with full-length cDNA of 1677 bp and 1068 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a putative protein of 355 amino acids, which contains three ZnF_C2H2 domains. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis revealed that PvKLF13 shares a close evolutionary relationship with KLF13 from invertebrates. Transcript levels of PvKLF13 were ubiquitously expressed in shrimp and induced in hemocytes upon challenge with Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Streptococcus iniae, and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), suggesting the involvement of PvKLF13 in shrimp immune response to pathogens. Besides, knockdown of PvKLF13 decreased hemocytes apoptosis in terms of increased expression of pro-survival PvBcl-2, but decreased expression of pro-apoptotic PvBax and PvCytochrome C, coupled with high PvCaspase3/7 activity, especially upon V. parahaemolyticus challenge. The findings here indicate the involvement of PvKLF13 in apoptotic cell clearance as an essential part of shrimp innate immune response to pathogens.

尽管在哺乳动物中，Krüppel 样转录因子 13 (KLF13) 在细胞增殖、存活、分化、凋亡、肿瘤发生、免疫调节和炎症中起重要作用，但其在对虾中的作用尚不清楚。在目前的研究中，我们在南美白对虾( Pv KLF13) 中鉴定了一个 KLF13 同源物，全长 1677 bp 和 1068 bp 开放阅读框 (ORF) 编码 355 个氨基酸的推定蛋白质，其中包含三个 ZnF_C2H2 结构域。序列和系统发育分析表明，Pv KLF13 与来自无脊椎动物的 KLF13 具有密切的进化关系。Pv KLF13 的转录水平在虾中普遍表达，并在用副溶血性弧菌、链球菌和白斑综合征病毒 (WSSV)，表明Pv KLF13 参与了虾对病原体的免疫反应。此外，Pv KLF13 的敲低降低了血细胞凋亡，增加了促生存Pv Bcl-2 的表达，但降低了促凋亡Pv Bax 和Pv细胞色素 C 的表达，加上高Pv Caspase3/7 活性，尤其是在V.副溶血性挑战。这里的研究结果表明Pv KLF13 参与凋亡细胞清除，作为虾对病原体的先天免疫反应的重要组成部分。