Identification of innate immunity elicitors using molecular signatures of natural selection.

ABSTRACT: The innate immune system is an ancient and broad-spectrum defense system found in all eukaryotes. The detection of microbial elicitors results in the up-regulation of defense-related genes and the elicitation of inflammatory and apoptotic responses. These innate immune responses are the front-line barrier against disease because they collectively suppress the growth of the vast majority of invading microbes. Despite their critical role, we know remarkably little about the diversity of immune elicitors. To address this paucity, we reasoned that hosts are more likely to evolve recognition to "core" pathogen proteins under strong negative selection for the maintenance of essential cellular functions, whereas repeated exposure to host-defense responses will impose strong positive selective pre

SUBMITTER: McCann HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3306723 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature