title: Characterization of two putative cytokine receptors, gp130 and ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor, from terrestrial salamanders.
abstract: Cytokines of the gp130 family are fundamental regulators of immune responses and signal through multimeric receptors to initiate intracellular second-messenger cascades. Here, we provide the first characterization of two full-length gp130 cytokine receptors from the cDNA of the red-legged salamander (Plethodon shermani). The first, gp130 (2745 bp), is a common signaling receptor for several multi-functional cytokines in vertebrates. We also isolated the full-length (1104 bp) sequence of the ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor (CNTFR), which forms a heteromeric signaling complex with gp130. The open reading frames of both receptors were predicted to contain many of the conserved features found in mammalian gp130s, such as cytokine binding homology regions and residues known to form disulfide bonds. Finally, we used RT-PCR to show that gp130 and CNTFR were expressed in most P. shermani tissues, including brain, intestine and muscle. The expression profiles, along with the structural predictions, show that gp130, CNTFR, and their cytokine ligands are parts of the immune system of P. shermani and other caudate amphibians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA. kmk255@cornell.edu
authors.forename: Karen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kiemnec-Tyburczy
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: Stevan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Arnold
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D050822:Cytokine Receptor gp130 / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D040461:Gene Components; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D020801:Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D014562:Caudata / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D020801:Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor; D050822:Cytokine Receptor gp130