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Adaptive evolution of interferon-γ in Glire lineage and evidence for a recent selective sweep in Mus. m. domesticus

Genes & Immunity volume 10, pages 297–308 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Interferon-γ plays a key role in the immune response against intracellular pathogens. Its gene is located inside a cluster of cytokines from the interleukin-10 family. A comparison of the coding sequences in the mammalian Glire lineage indicates a possible action of positive Darwinian selection promoting rapid amino-acid changes in the branch leading to murine rodents represented by Mus and Rattus. Looking at genomic diversity of this gene inside the genus Mus, we could propose that a recent selective sweep has affected M. m. domesticus, this subspecies harbouring predominantly a single Ifng haplotype that differs from that of the other subspecies by a unique amino-acid difference in a key position of the molecule. The sweep seems to have affected a region of at most 50 kb as recombinants could be found at flanking conserved non-coding sequences. Functional differences were clearly apparent in cis-regulation of Ifng transcription between the domesticus and the musculus-type haplotypes. As the presence of the musculus haplotype in a predominantly domesticus background seems to promote susceptibility to chronic infection by Theiler's virus, these findings open interesting avenues for documenting immune system gene co-evolution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was initiated in Unité des Virus Lents directed by Michel Brahic. We are indebted to F Levillayer for technical help, K Chatziioannou for performing some of the DNA analyses, JJ Duquesne for taking care of the wild mice in Montpellier, Louis Jones for programming support, M Brahic, R Cheynier, M Delepierre, R Parker and S Wain-Hobson for helpful discussion. We also thank the anonymous referees for their fruitful comments. JFB and FB conceived the project. FL-A, LM, AA and JFB performed the experiments. LM, AA, JFB and FB analyzed the data. JFB and FB wrote the paper. This study was supported by the Institut Pasteur Fondation, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (MIME 2006), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. It is contribution ISEM 2009-019.

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Author notes

  1. J-F Bureau and F Bonhomme: These two authors have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Virologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

    F Levi-Acobas & J-F Bureau

  2. INSERM, U563, Centre de Physiopathologie de Toulouse Purpan, Hôpital Purpan, Toulouse, France

    L T Mars

  3. Université Toulouse III, Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France

    L T Mars

  4. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, UMR 5554, U Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France

    A Orth & F Bonhomme

Authors
  1. F Levi-Acobas
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  2. L T Mars
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  3. A Orth
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  4. J-F Bureau
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to J-F Bureau or F Bonhomme.

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Supplementary Information is available at the Genes & Immunity website (http://www.nature.com/gene)

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Levi-Acobas, F., Mars, L., Orth, A. et al. Adaptive evolution of interferon-γ in Glire lineage and evidence for a recent selective sweep in Mus. m. domesticus. Genes Immun 10, 297–308 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2009.22

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