Characterization and function of a gene Pc 14-3-3 isoform from red crayfish,procambarus clarkii

14-3-3 proteins are a family of conserved regulatory molecules participating in the coordination and regulation of many cellular processes. in this study,we first report the 14-3-3 gene,named as pc-14-3-3,in the crayfish procambarus clarkii. the pc-14-3-3 gene encodes a polypeptide of 247 amino acids and the deduced 14-3-3 protein sequence reveals the higher percent identity with its homologues from crustaceans. real-time quantitative reverse transcription-pcr (qrt-pcr) analysis shows that pc-14-3-3 expression is higher in hepatopancreas than that in other examined tissues. in addition,prokaryotic expression and purification of the pc-14-3-3 protein were performed. sds-page and western blot analysis demonstrated that a 30 kd recombinant protein was successfully expressed in e. coli cells. the titer of the antibody against recombinant pc-14-3-3 protein was about 1: 3100 which was determined by elisa. the expression of pc-14-3-3 was significantly up-regulated in hepatopancreas after eyestalk ablation or ecdysone induction,which was confirmed by qrt-pcr and western blot analysis. these results suggest that pc-14-3-3 plays a role in the development process of p. clarkii. © copyright 2014 zoological society of pakistan.