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Soares J, Pinheiro A, Esteves PJ. The rabbit as an animal model to study innate immunity genes: Is it better than mice? Front Immunol 2022; 13:981815. [PMID: 36159800 PMCID: PMC9501708 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.981815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was the first animal model used to understand human diseases like rabies and syphilis. Nowadays, the rabbit is still used to study several human infectious diseases like syphilis, HIV and papillomavirus. However, due to several mainly practical reasons, it has been replaced as an animal model by mice (Mus musculus). The rabbit and mouse share a recent common ancestor and are classified in the superorder Glires which arose at approximately 82 million years ago (mya). These species diverged from the Primates’ ancestor at around 92 million years ago and, as such, one expects the rabbit-human and mouse-human genetic distances to be very similar. To evaluate this hypothesis, we developed a set of tools for automatic data extraction, sequence alignment and similarity study, and a web application for visualization of the resulting data. We aligned and calculated the genetic distances for 2793 innate immune system genes from human, rabbit and mouse using sequences available in the NCBI database. The obtained results show that the rabbit-human genetic distance is lower than the mouse-human genetic distance for 88% of these genes. Furthermore, when we considered only genes with a difference in genetic distance higher than 0.05, this figure increase to 93%. These results can be explained by the increase of the mutation rates in the mouse lineage suggested by some authors and clearly show that, at least looking to the genetic distance to human genes, the European rabbit is a better model to study innate immune system genes than the mouse.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Soares
- Departamento de Ciências dos Computadores, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Centro de Sistemas de Computação Avançada - Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência (CRACS - INESC TEC), Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Pinheiro
- CIBIO-UP, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, InBIO, Laboratrio Associado, Vairão, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
| | - Pedro José Esteves
- CIBIO-UP, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, InBIO, Laboratrio Associado, Vairão, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- CITS - Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias de Saúde, Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário (CESPU), Gandra, Portugal
- *Correspondence: Pedro José Esteves,
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Müller C, Hrynkiewicz R, Bębnowska D, Maldonado J, Baratelli M, Köllner B, Niedźwiedzka-Rystwej P. Immunity against Lagovirus europaeus and the Impact of the Immunological Studies on Vaccination. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 9:vaccines9030255. [PMID: 33805607 PMCID: PMC8002203 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9030255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Revised: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In the early 1980s, a highly contagious viral hemorrhagic fever in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) emerged, causing a very high rate of mortality in these animals. Since the initial occurrence of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), several hundred million rabbits have died after infection. The emergence of genetically-different virus variants (RHDV GI.1 and GI.2) indicated the very high variability of RHDV. Moreover, with these variants, the host range broadened to hare species (Lepus). The circulation of RHDV genotypes displays different virulences and a limited induction of cross-protective immunity. Interestingly, juvenile rabbits (<9 weeks of age) with an immature immune system display a general resistance to RHDV GI.1, and a limited resistance to RHDV GI.2 strains, whereas less than 3% of adult rabbits survive an infection by either RHDV GI.1. or GI.2. Several not-yet fully understood phenomena characterize the RHD. A very low infection dose followed by an extremely rapid viral replication could be simplified to the induction of a disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC), a severe loss of lymphocytes—especially T-cells—and death within 36 to 72 h post infection. On the other hand, in animals surviving the infection or after vaccination, very high titers of RHDV-neutralizing antibodies were induced. Several studies have been conducted in order to deepen the knowledge about the virus’ genetics, epidemiology, RHDV-induced pathology, and the anti-RHDV immune responses of rabbits in order to understand the phenomenon of the juvenile resistance to this virus. Moreover, several approaches have been used to produce efficient vaccines in order to prevent an infection with RHDV. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge about anti-RHDV resistance and immunity, RHDV vaccination, and the further need to establish rationally-based RHDV vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Müller
- Department of Experimental Animal Facilities and Biorisk Management, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany;
| | - Rafał Hrynkiewicz
- Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Felczaka 3c, 71-412 Szczecin, Poland; (R.H.); (D.B.)
| | - Dominika Bębnowska
- Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Felczaka 3c, 71-412 Szczecin, Poland; (R.H.); (D.B.)
| | | | | | - Bernd Köllner
- Institute of Immunology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany
- Correspondence: (B.K.); (P.N.-R.)
| | - Paulina Niedźwiedzka-Rystwej
- Institute of Biology, University of Szczecin, Felczaka 3c, 71-412 Szczecin, Poland; (R.H.); (D.B.)
- Correspondence: (B.K.); (P.N.-R.)
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Águeda-Pinto A, Lemos de Matos A, Pinheiro A, Neves F, de Sousa-Pereira P, Esteves PJ. Not so unique to Primates: The independent adaptive evolution of TRIM5 in Lagomorpha lineage. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0226202. [PMID: 31830084 PMCID: PMC6907815 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 11/21/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The plethora of restriction factors with the ability to inhibit the replication of retroviruses have been widely studied and genetic hallmarks of evolutionary selective pressures in Primates have been well documented. One example is the tripartite motif-containing protein 5 alpha (TRIM5α), a cytoplasmic factor that restricts retroviral infection in a species-specific fashion. In Lagomorphs, similarly to what has been observed in Primates, the specificity of TRIM5 restriction has been assigned to the PRYSPRY domain. In this study, we present the first insight of an intra-genus variability within the Lagomorpha TRIM5 PRYSPRY domain. Remarkably, and considering just the 32 residue-long v1 region of this domain, the deduced amino acid sequences of Daurian pika (Ochotona dauurica) and steppe pika (O. pusilla) evidenced a high divergence when compared to the remaining Ochotona species, presenting values of 44% and 66% of amino acid differences, respectively. The same evolutionary pattern was also observed when comparing the v1 region of two Sylvilagus species members (47% divergence). However, and unexpectedly, the PRYSPRY domain of Lepus species exhibited a great conservation. Our results show a high level of variation in the PRYSPRY domain of Lagomorpha species that belong to the same genus. This suggests that, throughout evolution, the Lagomorpha TRIM5 should have been influenced by constant selective pressures, likely as a result of multiple different retroviral infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Águeda-Pinto
- CIBIO/InBio—Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto,Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Lemos de Matos
- Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines, and Virotherapy (CIVV), The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Ana Pinheiro
- CIBIO/InBio—Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto,Porto, Portugal
| | - Fabiana Neves
- CIBIO/InBio—Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
| | - Patrícia de Sousa-Pereira
- CIBIO/InBio—Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto,Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro J. Esteves
- CIBIO/InBio—Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto,Porto, Portugal
- CITS—Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias da Saúde, IPSN, CESPU,Gandra, Portugal
- * E-mail:
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Lanning DK, Esteves PJ, Knight KL. The remnant of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) IgD gene. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0182029. [PMID: 28832642 PMCID: PMC5568218 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Although IgD first appeared, along with IgM, in the cartilaginous fishes and has been retained throughout subsequent vertebrate evolution, it has been lost in a diverse group of vertebrate species. We previously showed that, unlike vertebrates that express IgD, the rabbit lacks an IgD (Cδ) gene within 13.5 kb downstream of the IgM gene. We report here that, by conducting BLAST searches of rabbit Ig heavy chain genomic DNA with known mammalian IgD exons, we identified the remnant of the rabbit Cδ gene approximately 21 kb downstream of the IgM gene. The remnant Cδ locus lacks the δCH1 and hinge exons, but contains truncated δCH2 and δCH3 exons, as well as largely intact, but non-functional, secretory and transmembrane exons. In addition, we report that the Cδ gene probably became non-functional in leporids at least prior to the divergence of rabbits and hares ~12 million years ago.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dennis K. Lanning
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Translational Research and Education, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Pedro J. Esteves
- InBIO-Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- CITS - Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias de Saúde, CESPU, Gandra, Portugal
| | - Katherine L. Knight
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Translational Research and Education, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, United States of America
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