Journal
VETERINARY IMMUNOLOGY AND IMMUNOPATHOLOGY
Volume 140, Issue 3-4, Pages 335-340Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2010.12.006
Keywords
Cytokine; Interleukin-4; Macropus eugenii; Marsupial; Wallaby
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Funding
- Central Queensland University
- Centre for Environmental Management (CQUniversity Australia)
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Very few cytokines that are important to the understanding of T helper cell function are characterized in marsupials. Expression of a 645 bp cDNA product that codes for a predicted Interleukin-4 peptide of 157 amino acids was detected in the lymph node tissues of Macropus eugenii, the tammar wallaby. Using Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends, both 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions were identified and a polyadenylation signal and three mRNA instability motifs associated with secreted cytokine molecules were also present. The translated cDNA sequence has a putative signal peptide of 24 amino acids, a predicted secondary structure that is consistent with the short-chain alpha-helical cytokine family and 82% conservation of residues associated with the Interleukin-4 family sequence motif. Comparisons of wallaby nucleotide and predicted peptide sequences with the coding domains of other vertebrate species demonstrate the diversity within this gene family; with nucleotide and amino acid identities of 74% and 59% with opossum, 52% and 32% with human and 38% and 19% with chicken homologues respectively. Despite these differences in sequence conservation, the putative Macropus eugenii Interleukin-4 mature peptide contains conserved structural motifs and predicted receptor-binding residues that suggest that it may retain functional properties associated with this important Th2 cytokine in other mammals. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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