title: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in chinese amphioxus as a molecular marker of immune evolution during the transition of invertebrate/vertebrate.
abstract: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an important cytokine related to host defenses and autoimmune diseases. Here, we reported two full-length cDNA clones isolated from Chinese amphioxus (Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtaunese). Amino acid sequences analysis and structure prediction of these two molecules, called Bbt-MIF-I and Bbt-MIF-II, respectively, indicated that several conservative domains existed in the two amphioxus MIFs and their sequences were highly homologous to their counterparts of other species. Intriguingly, the Bbt-MIFs gene is present in multi-copy per haploid genome, which is very unusual compared with vertebrate's MIF gene given the known genome duplication theory. The genomic copy number, expression pattern of MIF gene and phylogenetic analysis of MIF proteins all suggested that a leap forward happened for MIF gene during the evolution from invertebrate to vertebrate. Considering the crucial role of MIF in innate immunity, MIF might serve as one of key molecular markers of evolution of immune system.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Department of Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jingchun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Xiaojin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Huiping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wenli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Meiling
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Yonghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Cuiling
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shicui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Anlong
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D015415:Biomarkers; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D006801:Humans; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051381:Rats; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors