Prokaryotic expression of the Portunus trituberculatus Ferritin gene during salinity stress

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of ferritin on the ability of the swimming crab to adapt to salinity stress.We amplified the Ferritin gene from the sixth gill of the swimming crab and cloned it into the pET 28 a(+) expression vector.The vector was transformed into Escherichia coli DE3(BL21) and induced by IPTG.The Ferritin protein was successfully induced by IPTG,yielding a band that was consistent with the theoretical value(19.448 kD).The survival rate of recombinant plasmid transferred E.coli was higher than that of empty vector transferred cells.Furthermore,the recombinant plasmid significantly improved the tolerance of E.coli to salinity stress.Our results suggest that Ferritin improves the ability of E.coli to cope with salinity stress and so may also play a role in salinity adaptation in P.trituberculatus.