Molecular cloning and sequencing of 25 different rhesus macaque chemokine cDNAs reveals evolutionary conservation among C, CC, CXC, AND CX3C families of chemokines.
Chemokines are small chemoattractant cytokines involved in normal and pathological immune processes. Although extensive nucleotide sequence data are available for human and murine chemokine cDNA sequences, very few data are currently available regarding rhesus macaque sequences. To increase our understanding of immune function in nonhuman primates, we have used reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to clone and sequence rhesus macaque cDNAs from each of the C, CC, CXC, and CX3C groups of chemokines. Relative to the respective human chemokines, these 25 chemokine cDNA sequences were from 77% to 98% identical. Of the amino acid differences between the rhesus macaque and human chemokines, 51% were species-specific when compared together with the respective murine chemokine sequences. These studies of rhesus macaque chemokine sequences demonstrate that chemokine genes are highly conserved across species, and provide a large foundation for the study of chemokine biology and genetics in nonhuman primates.
Basu
Shrabani
S
Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Schaefer
Todd M
TM
Ghosh
Mimi
M
Fuller
Craig L
CL
Reinhart
Todd A
TA
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018925:Chemokines / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D019744:Chemokines, C / Q000235:genetics; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000235:genetics; D020523:Chemokines, CX3C / Q000235:genetics; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
D018925:Chemokines; D019744:Chemokines, C; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D020523:Chemokines, CX3C; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D018076:DNA, Complementary