Evolution of the chicken Toll-like receptor gene family: a story of gene gain and gene loss.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) perform a vital role in disease resistance through their recognition of pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Recent advances in genomics allow comparison of TLR genes within and between many species. This study takes advantage of the recently sequenced chicken genome to determine the complete chicken TLR repertoire and place it in context of vertebrate genomic evolution.

Results

The chicken TLR repertoire consists of ten genes. Phylogenetic analyses show that six of these genes have orthologs in mammals and fish, while one is only shared by fish and three appear to be unique to birds. Furthermore the phylogeny shows that TLR1-like genes arose independently in fish, birds and mammals from an ancestral gene also shared by TLR6 a

SUBMITTER: Temperley ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2275738 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature