The expansion and loss of pattern recognition receptors across the phylum Cnidaria


SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2021 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING (VAM)
January 3 – Febuary 28, 2021

Meeting Abstract


64-3  Sat Jan 2  The expansion and loss of pattern recognition receptors across the phylum Cnidaria Emery, M*; Dimos, B; Mydlarz, L; University of Texas at Arlington ; University of Texas at Arlington ; University of Texas at Arlington madison.emery@mavs.uta.edu

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) are crucial components of innate immunity, recognizing danger-associated molecular pattern motifs (DAMPs) and activating host defenses. Because invertebrates rely solely on their innate immunity to defend themselves from pathogens, the specificity of their immune systems is the consequence of their PRR repertoire. As members of a basal non-bilaterian phylum, investigating Cnidarian PRRs gives insight into the evolution of innate immunity. Previous investigations into Cnidarian PRRs have found expansions in NOD-like receptors and C-type lectins. However, these studies focus on Hexacorallians and a single Hydrozoan, Hydra, and do not reflect the full diversity of the phylum. Here we utilize the increasing amount of available genomic resources to survey the PRR repertoire of 15 Cnidarians from the classes Hexacorallia, Octocorallia, Cubozoa, Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, and Staurozoa. Similar to previous studies, we found expansions in NOD-like receptors and C-type lectins in the majority of species. Interestingly, no NOD-like receptors were found in the Staurozoan’s and Cubozoan’s predicted gene models. RIG-like receptors and Toll-like receptors were either conserved or lost in the majority of species surveyed. Interestingly, Anthozoans (Hexacorallia, Octocorallia) consistently had higher numbers of PRRs across all four PRR types relative to Medusozoans (Cubozoa, Hydrozoam Scyphozoa, and Staurozoa). However, this pattern does not appear to extend to downstream signaling pathway completeness, as the majority of Cnidarians surveyed have similar levels of completeness in the pathways leading from the PRRs to immune regulator NFκB and the complement system.

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