Genes encoding putative natural killer cell C-type lectin receptors in teleostean fishes |
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Authors: | Sato Akie Mayer Werner E Overath Peter Klein Jan |
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Institution: | Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Abteilung Immungenetik and Abteilung Membranbiochemie, Corrensstrasse 42, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. akie.sato@tuebingen.mpg.de |
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Abstract: | Mammalian natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that express receptors specific for MHC class I molecules. The NK cell receptors belong to two structurally unrelated families, the killer cell Ig-like receptors and the killer cell C-type lectin receptors. We describe a cDNA clone derived from the bony (cichlid) fish Paralabidochromis chilotes and show that it encodes a protein related to the CD94/NK cell group 2 (NKG2) subfamily of the killer cell C-type lectin receptors. The gene encoding this receptor in a related species, Oreochromis niloticus, has a similar structure to the human CD94/NKG2 genes and is a member of a multigene cluster that resembles the mammalian NK cell gene complex. Thus, the CD94/NKG2 subfamily of NK cell receptors must have arisen before the divergence of fish and tetrapods and may have retained its function (possibly monitoring the expression of MHC class I molecules) for >400 million years. |
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