PUBLICATION
Conservation and divergence of gene families encoding components of innate immune response systems in the zebrafish
- Authors
- Stein, C., Caccamo, M., Laird, G., and Leptin, M.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-071129-8
- Date
- 2007
- Source
- Genome biology 8(11): R251 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Caccamo, Mario, Stein, Cornelia
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Motifs
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Immunity, Innate/genetics*
- Mammals
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Phylogeny
- Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
- Zebrafish/genetics*
- Zebrafish/immunology
- PubMed
- 18039395 Full text @ Genome Biol.
Citation
Stein, C., Caccamo, M., Laird, G., and Leptin, M. (2007) Conservation and divergence of gene families encoding components of innate immune response systems in the zebrafish. Genome biology. 8(11):R251.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The zebrafish has become a widely used model to study disease resistance and immunity. While the genes for many components of immune signaling pathways have been found in teleost fish, it is not clear whether all components are present or whether the complexity of the signaling mechanisms employed by mammals is similar in fish. RESULTS: We searched the genomes of the zebrafish Danio rerio and two pufferfish for genes encoding components of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) and interferon signaling pathways, the NLR (NACHT-domain and leucine rich repeat containing) protein family and related proteins. We find that most of the components known in mammals are also present in fish, with clearly recognizable orthologous relationships. The classII cytokines and their receptors have diverged extensively, obscuring orthologies, but the number of receptors is similar in all species analyzed. In the family of the NLR proteins, the canonical members are conserved. We also found a conserved NACHT-domain protein with WD40 repeats that had previously not been described in mammals. Additionally, we have identified in each of the three fish a large species-specific subgroup of NLR proteins which contain a novel N-terminal domain that is not found in mammalian genomes. CONCLUSION: The main innate immune signaling pathways are conserved in mammals and teleost fish. Whereas the components that act downstream of the receptors are highly conserved, with orthologous sets of genes in mammals and teleosts, components that are known or assumed to interact with pathogens are more divergent and have undergone lineage specific expansions.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping