Evolutionary Insights into IL17A in Lagomorphs

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Neves, F (Author) Other; Abrantes, J (Author) Other; Almeida, T (Author) Other; costa, pp (Author) ICBAS; Esteves, PJ (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Mediators of Inflammation

Vol. 2015

Pages: 1-7

ISSN: 0962-9351

Publisher: Hindawi

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 5 Citations

Scopus - 4 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00J-ZDT

DOI: 10.1155/2015/367670

Abstract (EN): In leporids, IL17A had been implicated in the host defense against extracellular pathogens, such as Francisella tularensis that infects hares and rabbits and causes the zoonotic disease tularemia. Here, we studied IL17A from five lagomorphs, European rabbit, pygmy rabbit, brush rabbit, European brown hare, and American pika. We observed that this protein is highly conserved between these species, with a similarity of 97-99% in leporids and similar to 88% between leporids and American pika. The exon/intron structure, N-glycosylation sites, and cysteine residues are conserved between lagomorphs. However, at codon 88, one of the interaction sites between IL17A and its receptor IL17RA, there is an Arg>Pro mutation that only occurs in European rabbit and European brown hare. This could induce critical alterations in the IL17A structure and conformation and consequently modify its function. The differences observed between leporids and humans or rodents might also represent important alterations in protein structure and function. In addition, as for other interleukins, IL17A sequences of human and European rabbit are more closely related than the sequences of human and mouse or European rabbit and mouse. This study gives further support to the hypothesis that European rabbit might be a more suitable animal model for studies on human IL17.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7