title: Evolutionary Insights into IL17A in Lagomorphs.
abstract: In leporids, IL17A had been implicated in the host defense against extracellular pathogens, such as Francisella tularensis that infects hares and rabbits and causes the zoonotic disease tularemia. Here, we studied IL17A from five lagomorphs, European rabbit, pygmy rabbit, brush rabbit, European brown hare, and American pika. We observed that this protein is highly conserved between these species, with a similarity of 97-99% in leporids and ~88% between leporids and American pika. The exon/intron structure, N-glycosylation sites, and cysteine residues are conserved between lagomorphs. However, at codon 88, one of the interaction sites between IL17A and its receptor IL17RA, there is an Arg>Pro mutation that only occurs in European rabbit and European brown hare. This could induce critical alterations in the IL17A structure and conformation and consequently modify its function. The differences observed between leporids and humans or rodents might also represent important alterations in protein structure and function. In addition, as for other interleukins, IL17A sequences of human and European rabbit are more closely related than the sequences of human and mouse or European rabbit and mouse. This study gives further support to the hypothesis that European rabbit might be a more suitable animal model for studies on human IL17.
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO-Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; Unidade Multidisciplinar de Investigação Biomédica (UMIB), Universidade do Porto (UP), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, No. 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fabiana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Neves
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO-Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abrantes
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO-Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Tereza
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Unidade Multidisciplinar de Investigação Biomédica (UMIB), Universidade do Porto (UP), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, No. 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; Departamento de Genética, CSPGF, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Rua Alexandre Herculano, No. 321, 4000-055 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paulo P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: CIBIO, InBIO-Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal; Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias de Saúde (CITS), CESPU, Rua Central de Gandra, No. 1317, 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Esteves
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006031:Glycosylation; D034621:Hares / Q000276:immunology; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D007793:Lagomorpha / Q000276:immunology*; D011817:Rabbits / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D020381:Interleukin-17