ISSN:
1432-1211
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract Interleukin-8 is a chemokine with a potent neutrophil chemoatractant activity. In humans, two different cDNAs encoding human IL8 receptors designated IL8RA and IL8RB have been cloned. IL8RA binds IL8, while IL8RB binds IL8 as well as other α-chemokines. Both human IL8Rs are encoded by two genes physically linked on chromosome 2. TheIL8RA andIL8RB genes have open reading frames (ORF) lacking introns. By direct sequencing of the polymerase chain reaction products, we sequenced theIL8R genes of cell lines from four non-human primates: chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and macaca. TheIL8RB encodes an ORF in the four non-human primates, showing 95%–99% similarity to the human IL8RB sequence. TheIL8RA homologue in gorilla and chimpanzee consisted of two ORF 98%–99% identical to the human sequence. The macaca and orangutanIL8RA homologues are pseudogenes: a 2 base pair insertion generated a sequence with several stop codons. In addition, we describe the physical linkage of these genes in the four non-human primates and discuss the evolutionary implications of these findings.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02440993