Search for Origin of Vertebrate Adaptive Immunity in The Sea Lamprey

在海七鳃鳗中寻找脊椎动物适应性免疫的起源

• 批准号: 0317460
• 负责人: Zeev Pancer
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2005-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0317460&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Search; Origin; Vertebrate; Adaptive; Immunity

While all living beings use innate immune mechanisms to defend themselves against foreign invaders, only jawed vertebrates possess specific adaptive immunity, the cardinal elements of which include T cell receptors for antigens, antibodies, and major histocompatability (MHC) genes. The adaptive immune system evolved around 500 million years ago to provide immunological memory and protection against recurrent infection with the same agent. To understand better how innate and adaptive immunity work together, the project seeks to identify the building blocks for adaptive immunity in sea lamprey, one of two living representatives of jawless vertebrates. These experiments will identify genes that are selectively expressed by lamprey lymphocytes, the cell type responsible for adaptive immune responses in higher vertebrates, and genes expressed by phagocytic cells, key types of cells for innate immune responses. Genes selectively expressed in these lamprey cell types will be compared with genes in higher vertebrates that are known to participate in innate and/or adaptive immunity.The goal is to elaborate features of innate and, possibly, the adaptive immune systems that have allowed lampreys to survive for the last 500 million years. These studies will provide insight into how the adaptive immune system evolved in concert with innate immunity to allow higher vertebrates, including humans, to survive constant invasion by a variety of infectious microorganisms and toxins. The information could also be helpful in devising means for biological control of predator sea lamprey that have devastated fish populations in the Great Lakes of North America. This research effort will be conducted in the intellectual environment of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and will offer lectures, seminars, and research training to undergraduate and graduate students and others in the community who are interested in the important field of comparative immunology.

虽然所有生物都使用先天免疫机制来保护自己免受外来入侵者的侵害，但只有颌类脊椎动物拥有特异性适应性免疫，其主要成分包括抗原、抗体和主要组织相容性（MHC）基因的T细胞受体。适应性免疫系统大约在5亿年前进化而来，提供免疫记忆和保护，防止同一病原体的反复感染。为了更好地理解先天免疫和适应性免疫是如何协同工作的，该项目试图确定海七鳃鳗（两种无颌脊椎动物的代表之一）适应性免疫的组成部分。这些实验将鉴定由七鳃鳗淋巴细胞选择性表达的基因，七鳃鳗淋巴细胞是高等脊椎动物中负责适应性免疫反应的细胞类型，以及吞噬细胞表达的基因，吞噬细胞是先天性免疫反应的关键细胞类型。在这些七鳃鳗细胞类型中选择性表达的基因将与已知参与先天和/或适应性免疫的高等脊椎动物的基因进行比较。目标是详细阐述先天免疫系统的特征，也可能是适应性免疫系统的特征，这些特征使七鳃鳗能够在过去的5亿年里存活下来。这些研究将深入了解适应性免疫系统如何与先天免疫协同进化，从而使包括人类在内的高等脊椎动物能够在各种感染性微生物和毒素的持续入侵中存活下来。这些信息也可能有助于设计生物控制捕食者海七鳃鳗的方法，这些捕食者已经摧毁了北美五大湖的鱼类种群。这项研究工作将在阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的学术环境中进行，并将为本科生和研究生以及社区中对比较免疫学这一重要领域感兴趣的其他人提供讲座、研讨会和研究培训。