title: Sheep (Ovis aries) Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor: molecular cloning, characterization, tissue distribution and expression in the ewe reproductive tract and in the placenta.
abstract: Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) is a pivotal regulator of innate and acquired immunity affecting the response and behavior of macrophages and lymphocytes. However, a number of studies indicated wider physiological functions for this cytokine to include key-roles in reproductive biology. The present study was designed to clone the coding sequence of sheep MIF, to examine the characteristics of the protein in vitro, and to evaluate its expression in sheep tissues and in the ewe reproductive tract in vivo. Ovine MIF cDNA consisted of 348 nucleotides encoding a 115 amino acids protein with an estimated molecular mass of 12,343 Da and an isoelectric point of 7.68. Sheep MIF shared high amino acid identity with the other mammalian MIF family members and showed parallel functions to human MIF, displaying enzymatic oxoreductase activity and inducing monocyte transmigration. Expression studies detected a MIF transcript in all the sheep tissues examined. Among reproductive tissues, MIF mRNA and protein were detected in the ovary, oviduct, uterus and placenta. These results indicate that sheep MIF shares crucial features with other MIF family members and delineate its potential involvement in several aspects of ovine physiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vannoni
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sestini
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casciaro
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carducci
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bartolommei
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toschi
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ptak
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cintorino
authors.forename: Felice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arcuri
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism; D010057:Oviducts / Q000378:metabolism; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012756:Sheep; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014599:Uterus / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008263:Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factors