Back to Search
Start Over
Hatching time for monotreme immunology
- Source :
- Australian Journal of Zoology. 57:185
- Publication Year :
- 2009
- Publisher :
- CSIRO Publishing, 2009.
-
Abstract
- The sequencing of the platypus genome has spurred investigations into the characterisation of the monotreme immune response. As the most divergent of extant mammals, the characterisation of the monotreme immune repertoire allows us to trace the evolutionary history of immunity in mammals and provide insights into the immune gene complement of ancestral mammals. The immune system of monotremes has remained largely uncharacterised due to the lack of specific immunological reagents and limited access to animals for experimentation. Early immunological studies focussed on the anatomy and physiology of the lymphoid system in the platypus. More recent molecular studies have focussed on characterisation of individual immunoglobulin, T-cell receptor and MHC genes in both the platypus and short-beaked echidna. Here, we review the published literature on the monotreme immune gene repertoire and provide new data generated from genome analysis on cytokines, Fc receptors and immunoglobulins. We present an overview of key gene families responsible for innate and adaptive immunity including the cathelicidins, defensins, T-cell receptors and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class I and Class II antigens. We comment on the usefulness of these sequences for future studies into immunity, health and disease in monotremes.
- Subjects :
- biology
animal diseases
Zoology
chemical and pharmacologic phenomena
biology.organism_classification
Monotreme
Acquired immune system
Major histocompatibility complex
Genome
Immune system
Evolutionary biology
Immunity
biology.animal
parasitic diseases
Echidna
biology.protein
Animal Science and Zoology
Platypus
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 0004959X
- Volume :
- 57
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Australian Journal of Zoology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........e76cfc1553b7dbbf7fd7d46bfcca1165
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1071/zo09042