PUBLICATION
The phylogenetic origins of natural killer receptors and recognition: relationships, possibilities, and realities
- Authors
- Yoder, J.A., and Litman, G.W.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-111215-1
- Date
- 2011
- Source
- Immunogenetics 63(3): 123-141 (Review)
- Registered Authors
- Litman, Gary W., Yoder, Jeffrey A.
- Keywords
- marsupial, monotreme, chicken, xenopus, zebrafish, innate immunity, cytotoxicity
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Evolution, Molecular*
- Humans
- Immunity, Innate
- Killer Cells, Natural/immunology
- Mammals/genetics
- Mammals/immunology
- Phylogeny
- Receptors, Natural Killer Cell/genetics*
- Receptors, Natural Killer Cell/immunology
- Receptors, Natural Killer Cell/metabolism
- Vertebrates/genetics
- Vertebrates/immunology
- PubMed
- 21191578 Full text @ Immunogenetics
Citation
Yoder, J.A., and Litman, G.W. (2011) The phylogenetic origins of natural killer receptors and recognition: relationships, possibilities, and realities. Immunogenetics. 63(3):123-141.
Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells affect a form of innate immunity that recognizes and eliminates cells that are infected with certain viruses or have undergone malignant transformation. In mammals, this recognition can be mediated through immunoglobulin- (Ig) and/or lectin-type NK receptors (NKRs). NKR genes in mammals range from minimally polymorphic single-copy genes to complex multigene families that exhibit high levels of haplotypic complexity and exhibit significant interspecific variation. Certain single-copy NKR genes that are present in one mammal are present as expanded multigene families in other mammals. These observations highlight NKRs as one of the most rapidly evolving eukaryotic gene families and likely reflect the influence of pathogens, especially viruses, on their evolution. Although well characterized in human and mice, cytotoxic cells that are functionally similar to NK cells have been identified in species ranging from birds to reptiles, amphibians and fish. Although numerous receptors have been identified in non-mammalian vertebrates that share structural relationships with mammalian NKRs, functionally defining these lower vertebrate molecules as NKRs is confounded by methodological and interpretive complexities. Nevertheless, several lines of evidence suggest that NK-type function or its equivalent has sustained a long evolutionary history throughout vertebrate species.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping