Evidence of immune genes in the crinoïd: Antedon bifida evidence of A.bifida Igkappa gene and a FC receptor one

Abstract

The general idea that emerged from the experiments, made in our laboratory, was that Echinodermata, as exemplified, by sea star Asterias rubens (Asterids)and by Ophiocomina nigra (Ophuirids), possessed an immune system, able to mount cellular and humoral-specific responses. After stimulation with a foreign antigen:the horse-radish peroxydase(HRP).1,2 Then,these echinodermata produced a primitive antibody, correlated to an Igkappa gene3–5 to a Fab gene,6 a Fc receptor gene.7 But a question desserves to be put: did the ancestral Echinodermata, Antedon bifida, (Crinoïd) possess such genes? It is why, in a first time, we look for IgKappa gene, Fab gene, Fc receptor gene in this crinoïd by the mean of genomic studies.