One precursor, three apolipoproteins: the relationship between two crustacean lipoproteins, the large discoidal lipoprotein and the high density lipoprotein/ß-glucan binding protein.

The novel discoidal lipoprotein (dLp) recently detected in the crayfish, differs from other crustacean lipoproteins in its large size, apoprotein composition and high lipid binding capacity, We identified the dLp sequence by transcriptome analyses of the hepatopancreas and mass spectrometry. Further de novo assembly of the NGS data followed by BLAST searches using the sequence of the high density lipoprotein/1-glucan binding protein (HDL-BGBP) of Astacus leptodactylus as query revealed a putative precursor molecule with an open reading frame of 14.7 kb and a deduced primary structure of 4889 amino acids. The presence of an N-terminal lipid bind- ing domain and a DUF 1943 domain suggests the relationship with the large lipid transfer proteins. Two-putative dibasic furin cleavage sites were identified bordering the sequence of the HDL-BGBP. When subjected to mass spectroscopic analyses, tryptic peptides of the large apoprotein of dLp matched the N-terminal part of the precursor, while the peptides obtained for its small apoprotein matched the C-terminal part. Repeating the analysis in the prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii revealed a similar protein with identical domain architecture suggesting that our findings do not represent an isolated instance. Our results indicate that the above three apolipoproteins (i.e HDL-BGBP and both the large and the small subunit of dLp) are translated as a large precursor. Cleavage at the furin type sites releases two subunits forming a heterodimeric dLP particle, while the remaining part forms an HDL-BGBP whose relationship with other lipoproteins as well as specific functions are yet to be elucidated.

A large discoidal lipoprotein present in only one of two closely related crayfish.

The hemolymph lipoproteins of two European freshwater crayfish, Astacus astacus and Astacus leptodactylus, were isolated and characterized. The former species possesses two sex-independent lipoproteins, which can be related to the formerly described high-density lipoprotein (HDL)/beta-glucan binding protein and very high-density lipoprotein/clotting protein from other crustaceans. The latter species, however, contains an additional third lipoprotein with a unique structure. It is a large discoidal HDL with a diameter of 42 nm, a thickness of 7 nm and a density of 1.1 g/ml. SDS-PAGE revealed two different apolipoproteins with molecular masses of 240 and 85 kDa, respectively, arranged in a 1:1 stoichiometry as judged from cross linking experiments. The lipid content of this lipoprotein was 67%, far higher than in every other crustacean lipoprotein described so far. The native molecular mass of this HDL-type lipoprotein was estimated to be about 930 kDa. The lipid content of the other lipoproteins ranged between 25 and 30% for the HDL/beta-glucan binding protein and 6-8% for the VHDL/clotting protein.