Cloning, Expression, and Polymorphisms of Natural Killer Cell Receptor NCR1 in Pigs.

Kosuke Jozaki a), Hiroki Shinkai bc), Takeya Morozumi bc), Maiko Tanaka-Matsuda bc), Tomoko Eguchi-Ogawa bd), Yasuhiko Wada e), Hirohide Uenishi bd)

a) United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan 
b) Animal Genome Research Program, Ibaraki, Japan 
c) Second Research Division, Institute of Society for Techno-Innovation of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ibaraki, Japan 
d) Division of Animal Sciences, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan 
e) Faculty of Agriculture, Saga University, Saga, Japan

ABSTRACT

NCR1 (NKp46) is expressed on the surfaces of natural killer cells and recognizes hemagglutinin on the influenza virus. We cloned the NCR1 gene in pigs and found that porcine NCR1 was minimally expressed in the thymus, suggesting that NCR1 could be a useful marker of natural killer cells in pigs. We observed three nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms and one deletion of three nucleotides in the coding sequence of porcine NCR1; these may affect the function of NCR1. The polymorphisms detected here may be useful markers for breeding for influenza resistance in pigs.

                                          Animal Biotechnology, 21, 156-163. 2010.

佐賀大学農学部応用生物科学科　動物資源開発学分野　和田研究室