Candidates for new molecules controlling allorecognition in Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus

Abstract

The sessile and colonial invertebrates have the capacity of distinguished between self and non-self tissues within of the same species. These allorecognition phenomena have been amply studied in the cnidarian Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, where encounters between colonies result either in fusion or rejection. Allorecognition in endogamic lines of H. symbiolongicarpus is governed by two linked and polymorphic loci, alr1 and alr2, where colonies sharing at least one allele fuse whereas those sharing none reject. However, this model doesn't fully predict the outcomes of encounters between wild-type animals, suggesting the existence of additional molecules controlling allorecognition in this species. In order to identify these molecules, we constructed three histocompatibility groups and used a comparative proteomics approach to identify proteins differentially expressed. We identified 48 proteins differentially expressed among the groups and 3 of them had structural features that make them candidates to participate in the control the allorecognition in H. symbiolongicarpus. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.