title: The rat interleukin 4 receptor: coevolution of ligand and receptor.
abstract: A rat interleukin 4 receptor (IL-4R) cDNA was cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using RNA of Con A activated T cells and primers deduced from mouse and human IL-4R sequences. Sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame for a putative membrane protein of 800 amino acids in length. It comprises an overall identity of 52 and 78% to its human and mouse homologues, respectively. The extracellular part of the rat IL-4R contains a number of residues including cysteines and a WSXWS motif typical for the cytokine receptor superfamily. Analysis of amino acid exchanges between rat and mouse IL-4 receptors deciphered for replacement (R) or silent (S) mutations suggested different types of selective pressure acting on the extracellular and intracellular domains. A high R/S value that indicates selective pressure for amino acid exchanges was found for the extracellular domain and a low R/S value for the intracellular part of the IL-4R. Since we previously found a similar high R/S value in the rat IL-4 gene encoding the ligand for the IL-4R, the high amino acid exchange rate can best be explained by coevolution between IL-4 and the ligand binding domain of the IL-4R to improve or retain affinity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, Klinikum Steglitz, Free University, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blankenstein
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Diamantstein
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar / Q000235:genetics*; D018123:Receptors, Interleukin / Q000235:genetics*; D019948:Receptors, Interleukin-4
chemical_list: D018123:Receptors, Interleukin; D019948:Receptors, Interleukin-4; D015847:Interleukin-4