A complement factor I (CFI) gene mediates innate immune responses in yellow catfish Pelteobagrus fulvidraco

This study isolated CFI gene from Pelteobagrus fulvidraco and named it PfCFI. The cDNA of PfCFI is 2374 bp long, including a 52 bp 5′ untranslated sequence, a 222 bp 3′ untranslated sequence, and an open reading frame (ORF) of 2100 bp encoding polypeptide consisting of 699 amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the PfCFI was closely related to CFI of Ictalurus punctatus. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis indicate that there is the PfCFI gene which expressed in all the rest of tested tissues in varied levels, and mainly distributed in liver and least in heart. The reseachers induce the expressions level of PfCFI gene in liver, spleen, head kidney and blood at different points in time after challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and polyriboinosinic polyribocytidylic acid (poly I:C), respectively. Together these results suggested that CFI gene plays an important role in resistance to pathogens in yellow catfish immunity.