The brown shrimp (Crangon crangon L.) ecdysteroid receptor complex: cloning, structural modeling of the ligand-binding domain and functional expression in an EcR-deficient Drosophila cell line

cDNAs encoding ecdysteroid receptor (EcR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) were cloned and sequenced from brown shrimp Crangon crangon (Crustacea: Decapoda), a common faunal species and commercially important in the North-West European coastal waters. A 3D model of the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of EcR was created and docking of ponasterone A (PonA) was simulated in silico. Finally, we report the transfection of expression plasmids for these receptors in the mutant Drosophila L57-3-11 cell line. Through an ecdysteroid responsive reporter assay we clearly prove the functionality of shrimp ecdysteroid receptor in the transfected L57-3-11 cell line. Our results indicate that the Drosophila L57-3-11 cell line and in silico LBD modeling can be used to study the function of crustacean ecdysteroid receptors and be applied to assess endocrine disrupting effects on non-target crustacean species.