Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2-like gene associated to pathogen response in Concholepas concholepas: SNP identification and transcription expression

Ubiquitin-conjugated E2 enzyme (UBE2) is one of the main components of the proteasome degradation cascade. Previous studies have shown an increase of expression levels in individuals challenged to some pathogen organism such as virus and bacteria. The study was to characterize the immune response of UBE2 gene in the gastropod Concholepas concholepas through expression analysis and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) discovery. Hence, UBE2 was identified from a cDNA library by 454 pyrosequencing, while SNP identification and validation were performed using De novo assembly and high resolution melting analysis. Challenge trials with Vibrio anguillarum was carried out to evaluate the relative transcript abundance of UBE2 gene from two to thirty-three hours post-treatment. The results showed a partial UBE2 sequence of 889 base pair (bp) with a partial coding region of 291 bp. SNP variation (A/C) was observed at the 546th position. Individuals challenged by V. anguillarum showed an overexpression of the UBE2 gene, the expression being significantly higher in homozygous individuals (AA) than (CC) or heterozygous individuals (A/C). This study contributes useful information relating to the UBE2 gene and its association with innate immune response in marine invertebrates.