A Case of Orthologous Sequences of Hemocyanin Subunits for an Evolutionary Study of Horseshoe Crabs: Amino Acid Sequence Comparison of Immunologically Identical Subunits of Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda and Tachypleus tridentatus

About 83% of the amino acid sequence of hemocyanin subunit HR6 from the Southeast Asian horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, has been determined. There is a difference of about 43% between HR6 and complete sequences of chelicerate hemocyanin subunits from the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, and a tarantula, Eurypelma californicum. However, the immunologically identical subunits HR6 and HT6 from Tachypleus tridentatus (Japanese horseshoe crab) show 2.7% sequence difference. Based on the amino acid sequences of HR6 and HT6, the divergence between C. rotundicauda and T. tridentatus occurred about 9.6 million years ago. In the case of horseshoe crab hemocyanin subunits, it seems that the orthologous homologues in many homologous subunits between species are immunologically detectable.