title: Identification and functional characterization of Toll-like receptor 2-1 in geese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), an important pattern recognition receptor, activates proinflammatory pathways in response to various pathogens. It has been reported in humans and chicken, but not in geese, an important waterfowl species in China. Since some vaccines stimulate robust immune responsesl in chicken but not in geeeses we speculated that their immune systems are different.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, we cloned the goose TLR2-1 gene using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE)and showed that geese TLR2-1 encoded a 793-amino-acid protein, containing a signal secretion peptide, an extracellular leucine-rich repeat domain, a transmembrane domain and a Toll/interleukin-1 receptor signaling domain deduced from amino acid sequence. TLR2-1 shared 38.4%-93.5% homology with its homologues in other species. Tissue expression of geese TLR2-1 varied markedly, and was higher in kidney, cloacal bursa, skin and brain compared to other organs/tissues. HEK293 cells transfected with plasmids carrying goose TLR2-1 and NF-κB-luciferase responded significantly to stimulation with Mycoplasma fermentans lipopeptide. Furthermore, geese infected with Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and Salmonella enteritidis (SE) showed significant upregulation of TLR2-1 in both in vivo and in vitro.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Geese TLR2-1 is a functional homologue of TLR2 present in other species and plays an important role in bacterial recognition in geese.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China. yongyanhong-007@163.com.
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China. rintor@163.com.
authors.forename: Shaofeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China. 811548259@qq.com.
authors.forename: Guohong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China. zjoujrm@163.com.
authors.forename: Rumin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Center of Modern Biochemistry, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China. 121801365@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yuntao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA, 01536, USA. xingmin.sun@tufts.edu.
authors.forename: Xingmin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: MOA Key Laboratory for Animal Vaccine Development, Key Laboratory of Zoonoses Control and Prevention of Guangdong, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China. mliao@scau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China. juxh77@163.com.|MOA Key Laboratory for Animal Vaccine Development, Key Laboratory of Zoonoses Control and Prevention of Guangdong, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China. juxh77@163.com.
authors.forename: Xianghong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ju
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D046090:Anseriformes / Q000502:physiology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D055666:Lipopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D008156:Luciferases; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010957:Plasmids; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D055666:Lipopeptides; D016328:NF-kappa B; D051195:Toll-Like Receptor 2; C106335:macrophage stimulatory lipopeptide 2; D008156:Luciferases