Amphioxus SARM involved in neural development may function as a suppressor of TLR signaling

J Immunol. 2010 Jun 15;184(12):6874-81. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.0903675. Epub 2010 May 14.

Abstract

Among five Toll/IL-1R resistance adaptors, sterile alpha and Toll/IL-1R resistance motif containing protein (SARM) is the only one conserved from Caenorhabditis elegans to human. However, its physiologic roles are hardly understood, and its involvement in TLR signaling remains debatable. In this study, we first demonstrated a predominant expression of amphioxus SARM (Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense SARM) in neural cells during embryogenesis and its predominant expression in the digestive system from larva to adult, suggesting its primitive role in neural development and a potential physiologic role in immunity. We further found that B. belcheri tsingtauense SARM was localized in mitochondria and could attenuate the TLR signaling via interacting with amphioxus MyD88 and tumor necrosis receptor associated factor 6. Thus, amphioxus SARM appears unique in that it may play dual functions in neural development and innate immunity by targeting amphioxus TLR signaling.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / immunology*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism
  • Chordata / embryology
  • Chordata / genetics
  • Chordata / immunology*
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / immunology*
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / metabolism
  • Female
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Humans
  • Immunoprecipitation
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Neurogenesis / immunology*
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Signal Transduction / immunology*
  • Toll-Like Receptors / immunology*
  • Transfection

Substances

  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled
  • Toll-Like Receptors
  • tir-1 protein, C elegans