Dataset Information

In silico identification of opossum cytokine genes suggests the complexity of the marsupial immune system rivals that of eutherian mammals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cytokines are small proteins that regulate immunity in vertebrate species. Marsupial and eutherian mammals last shared a common ancestor more than 180 million years ago, so it is not surprising that attempts to isolate many key marsupial cytokines using traditional laboratory techniques have been unsuccessful. This paucity of molecular data has led some authors to suggest that the marsupial immune system is 'primitive' and not on par with the sophisticated immune system of eutherian (placental) mammals.

Results

The sequencing of the first marsupial genome has allowed us to identify highly divergent immune genes. We used gene prediction methods that incorporate the identification of gene location using BLAST, SYNTENY + BLAST and HMMER to identify 23 key marsupial immune genes, including IFN-gamma, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-12 and IL-13, in the genome of the grey short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica). Many of these genes were not predicted in the publicly available automated annotations.

Conclusion

The power of this approach was demonstrated by the identification of orthologous cytokines between marsupials and eutherians that share only 30% identity at the amino acid level. Furthermore, the presence of key immunological genes suggests that marsupials do indeed possess a sophisticated immune system, whose function may parallel that of eutherian mammals.

SUBMITTER: Wong ES

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1660534 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

In silico identification of opossum cytokine genes suggests the complexity of the marsupial immune system rivals that of eutherian mammals.

Wong Emily Sw ES Young Lauren J LJ Papenfuss Anthony T AT Belov Katherine K

Immunome research 20061110

<h4>Background</h4>Cytokines are small proteins that regulate immunity in vertebrate species. Marsupial and eutherian mammals last shared a common ancestor more than 180 million years ago, so it is not surprising that attempts to isolate many key marsupial cytokines using traditional laboratory techniques have been unsuccessful. This paucity of molecular data has led some authors to suggest that the marsupial immune system is 'primitive' and not on par with the sophisticated immune system of eut ...[more]

PMID: 17094811

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Project description:Carboxylesterases (CES) perform diverse metabolic roles in mammalian organisms in the detoxification of a broad range of drugs and xenobiotics and may also serve in specific roles in lipid, cholesterol, pheromone and lung surfactant metabolism. Five CES families have been reported in mammals with human CES1 and CES2 the most extensively studied. Here we describe the genetics, expression and phylogeny of CES isozymes in the opossum and report on the sequences and locations of CES1, CES2 and CES6 'like' genes within two gene clusters on chromosome one. We also discuss the likely sequence of gene duplication events generating multiple CES genes during vertebrate evolution.We report a cDNA sequence for an opossum CES and present evidence for CES1 and CES2 like genes expressed in opossum liver and intestine and for distinct gene locations of five opossum CES genes,CES1, CES2.1, CES2.2, CES2.3 and CES6, on chromosome 1. Phylogenetic and sequence alignment studies compared the predicted amino acid sequences for opossum CES with those for human, mouse, chicken, frog, salmon and Drosophila CES gene products. Phylogenetic analyses produced congruent phylogenetic trees depicting a rapid early diversification into at least five distinct CES gene family clusters: CES2, CES1, CES7, CES3, and CES6. Molecular divergence estimates based on a Bayesian relaxed clock approach revealed an origin for the five mammalian CES gene families between 328-378 MYA.The deduced amino acid sequence for an opossum cDNA was consistent with its identity as a mammalian CES2 gene product (designated CES2.1). Distinct gene locations for opossum CES1 (1: 446,222,550-446,274,850), three CES2 genes (1: 677,773,395-677,927,030) and a CES6 gene (1: 677,585,520-677,730,419) were observed on chromosome 1. Opossum CES1 and multiple CES2 genes were expressed in liver and intestine. Amino acid sequences for opossum CES1 and three CES2 gene products revealed conserved residues previously reported for human CES1 involved in catalysis, ligand binding, tertiary structure and organelle localization. Phylogenetic studies indicated the gene duplication events which generated ancestral mammalian CES genes predated the common ancestor for marsupial and eutherian mammals, and appear to coincide with the early diversification of tetrapods.

Dataset Information

In silico identification of opossum cytokine genes suggests the complexity of the marsupial immune system rivals that of eutherian mammals.

Background

Results

Conclusion

Publications

In silico identification of opossum cytokine genes suggests the complexity of the marsupial immune system rivals that of eutherian mammals.

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