Most bacteria are not pathogenic to animals, and may instead serve beneficial functions. The requisite need for animals to differentiate between microbial friend and foe is likely borne from a deep evolutionary imperative to recognise self from non-self, a service ably provided by the innate immune system. Recent findings from an ancient lineage of simple animals - marine sponges - have revealed an unexpectedly large and diverse suite of genes belonging to one family of pattern recognition receptors, namely the NLR genes. Because NLRs can recognise a broad spectrum of microbial ligands, they may play a critical role in mediating the animal-bacterial crosstalk needed for sophisticated discrimination between microbes of various relationships. The building blocks for an advanced NLR-based immune specificity encoded in the genome of the coral reef sponge Amphimedon queenslandica may provide a specialisation and diversity of responses that equals, or even exceeds, that of vertebrate NLRs.
CITATION STYLE
Degnan, S. M. (2015, February 1). The surprisingly complex immune gene repertoire of a simple sponge, exemplified by the NLR genes: A capacity for specificity? Developmental and Comparative Immunology. Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2014.07.012
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.