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Genomic organization and phylogenetic utility of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) lymphotoxin-alpha and lymphotoxin-beta.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are among the most common mammals in North America and are important reservoirs of several human pathogens, including Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV). SNV can establish a life-long apathogenic infection in deer mice, which can shed virus in excrement for transmission to humans. Patients that die from hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) have been found to express several proinflammatory cytokines, including lymphotoxin (LT), in the lungs. It is thought that these cytokines contribute to the pathogenesis of HCPS. LT is not expressed by virus-specific CD4+ T cells from infected deer mice, suggesting a limited role for this pathway in reservoir responses to hantaviruses. RESULTS:We have cloned the genes encoding deer mouse LTalpha and LTbeta and have found them to be highly similar to orthologous rodent sequences but with some differences in promoters elements. The phylogenetic analyses performed on the LTalpha, LTbeta, and combined data sets yielded a strongly-supported sister-group relationship between the two murines (the house mouse and the rat). The deer mouse, a sigmodontine, appeared as the sister group to the murine clade in all of the analyses. High bootstrap values characterized the grouping of murids. CONCLUSION:No conspicuous differences compared to other species are present in the predicted amino acid sequences of LTalpha or LTbeta; however, some promoter differences were noted in LTbeta. Although more extensive taxonomic sampling is required to confirm the results of our analyses, the preliminary findings indicate that both genes (analyzed both separately and in combination) hold potential for resolving relationships among rodents and other mammals at the subfamily level.

SUBMITTER: Richens T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2605436 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genomic organization and phylogenetic utility of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) lymphotoxin-alpha and lymphotoxin-beta.

Richens Tiffany T Palmer Aparna D N AD Prescott Joseph J Schountz Tony T

BMC immunology 20081031

<h4>Background</h4>Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are among the most common mammals in North America and are important reservoirs of several human pathogens, including Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV). SNV can establish a life-long apathogenic infection in deer mice, which can shed virus in excrement for transmission to humans. Patients that die from hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) have been found to express several proinflammatory cytokines, including lymphotoxin (LT), in the lungs. I ...[more]

PMID: 18976466

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Project description:Despite current interest in population genetics, a concrete definition of a "population" remains elusive. Multiple ecologically and evolutionarily based definitions of population are in current use, which focus, respectively, on demographic and genetic interactions. Accurate population delimitation is crucial for not only evolutionary and ecological population biology, but also for conservation of threatened populations. Along the Pacific Coast of North America, two contrasting patterns of geographic variation in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) converge within the state of Oregon. Populations of these mice diverge morphologically across an east-west axis, and they diverge in mitochondrial DNA haplotypes across a north-south axis. In this study, we investigate these geographically contrasting patterns of differentiation in the context of ecological and evolutionary definitions (paradigms) of populations. We investigate these patterns using a new and geographically expansive sample that integrates data on morphology, mitochondrial DNA, and nuclear DNA. We found no evidence of nuclear genetic differentiation between the morphologically and mitochondrially distinct populations, thus indicating the occurrence of gene flow across Oregon. Under the evolutionary paradigm, Oregon populations can be considered a single population, whereas morphological and mitochondrial differentiations do not indicate distinct populations. In contrast, under the ecological paradigm morphological differentiation indicates distinct populations based on the low likelihood of demographic interactions between geographically distant individuals. The two sympatric but mitochondrially distinct haplogroups form a single population under the ecological paradigm. Hence, we find that the difference between evolutionary and ecological paradigms is the time-scale of interest, and we believe that the more chronologically inclusive evolutionary paradigm may be preferable except in cases where only a single generation is of interest.

Dataset Information

Genomic organization and phylogenetic utility of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) lymphotoxin-alpha and lymphotoxin-beta.

Publications

Genomic organization and phylogenetic utility of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) lymphotoxin-alpha and lymphotoxin-beta.

Similar Datasets

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