| We successfully cloned and sequenced porcine toll-like receptor2 (TLR2)
and TLR6 cDNA from porcine alveolar macrophages stimulated with 10μg/ml
lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The open reading frames (ORFs) of the porcine
TLR2 and TLR6 cDNA were shown to be 2358 and 2391 bp in length and to encode
785 and 796 amino acids, respectively. The predicted amino acid sequence
of porcine TLR2 was 72.3% homologous to human TLR2 and 61.0% homologous
to murine TLR2. That of porcine TLR6 was 74.4% homologous to human TLR6
and 66.1% homologous to murine TLR6. Porcine TLR2 and TLR6 genes were both
mapped to porcine chromosome 8 (TLR2: SSC8q21.1→21.5; TLR6: SSC8p11.1→p21.1)
by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and radiation hybrid mapping. Western blot analysis
confirmed that TLR2 and TLR6 proteins were both expressed in porcine alveolar
macrophages. Further, anti-porcine TLR2 and TLR6 antibodies synergistically
blocked tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α ) production by porcine
alveolar macrophages stimulated with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae. These results indicated that both TLR2 and TLR6 are important in the
recognition of M. hyopneumoniae in porcine alveolar macrophages and will be useful in understanding innate
immunity against M. hyopneumoniae. (Immune System Section, Department of Immunology TEL +81-29-838-7857) |