cDNA cloning, characterization and expression analysis of toll-like receptor 4 gene in goose

Wang, F., Lu, L., Yuan, H., Tian, Y., Li, J., Shen, J., Tao, Z. and Fu, Y. 2011. cDNA cloning, characterization and expression analysis of toll-like receptor 4 gene in goose. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 91: 371-377. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) plays an important role in activating proinflammatory pathways in response to various pathogens and fatty acids in mammals. In avian species, the TLR4 gene has been reported in chicken and zebra finch. We describe here the cloning and characterization of the TLR4 in goose. Goose TLR4 encodes an 843-amino-acid protein, which contains a signal peptide, extracelluar leucine-rich repeat domain, a transmembrane region and a toll-interleukin-1 receptor signaling domain. The deduced goose TLR4 protein shows more than 70% identity to chicken and zebra finch, but less than 50% identity to its mammalian counterparts. Quantitative real-time analysis reveals that the goose TLR4 mRNA is more expressed in abdominal fat and liver. We also identify the changes of goose TLR4 mRNA expression pattern after over-feeding treatment, which may reveal that the expression of goose TLR4 could respond to over-feeding treatment.