title: An Immune Effector System in the Protochordate Gut Sheds Light on Fundamental Aspects of Vertebrate Immunity.
abstract: A variety of germline and somatic immune mechanisms have evolved in vertebrate and invertebrate species to detect a wide array of pathogenic invaders. The gut is a particularly significant site in terms of distinguishing pathogens from potentially beneficial microbes. Ciona intestinalis, a filter-feeding marine protochordate that is ancestral to the vertebrate form, possesses variable region-containing chitin-binding proteins (VCBPs), a family of innate immune receptors, which recognize bacteria through an immunoglobulin-type variable region. The manner in which VCBPs mediate immune recognition appears to be related to the development and bacterial colonization of the gut, and it is likely that these molecules are critical elements in achieving overall immune and physiological homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology and Evolution, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121, Napoli, Italy. assusy.liberti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Assunta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liberti
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, St Petersburg, FL, USA. bleigh@mail.usf.edu.
authors.forename: Brittany
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leigh
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology and Evolution, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121, Napoli, Italy. desantis@szn.it.
authors.forename: Rosaria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Santis
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology and Evolution, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121, Napoli, Italy. pinto@szn.it.
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida College of Medicine, St Petersburg, FL, USA. jcannon@health.usf.edu.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cannon
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida College of Medicine, St Petersburg, FL, USA. ldishaw@health.usf.edu.
authors.forename: Larry J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Dishaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida College of Medicine, St Petersburg, FL, USA. litmang1@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Litman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000276:immunology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000276:immunology; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D011971:Receptors, Immunologic