Characterization, evolution and expression analysis of Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) in turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.).

The pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) can recognize the conserved molecular structures of pathogens to active the innate immune responses, and subsequently induce the antigen-specific adaptive immune responses for the clearance of infected pathogen. Among the PRRs, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are the first and best characterized PRRs across all the species. Among the TLR members, TLR7 showed significant conservation across the vertebrates, with the lowest rate of evolution for its LRR domains from primates to fishes. In the current study, one TLR7 (Sm TLR7) gene was captured in turbot, with a 3144 bp open reading frame (ORF), that encoding 1047 amino acid residues. Following multiple sequence comparison, Sm TLR7 was found to have the highest similarity and identity both to Paralichthys olivaceus with 91.9% and 85.9%, respectively. In phylogenetic analysis, Sm TLR7 was firstly clustered with Japanese flounder, and then clustered with fugu, rainbow trout, and zebrafish. In addition, Sm TLR7 was widely expressed in all the examined tissues with the highest expression level in spleen, followed by skin, while the lowest expression level was detected in blood. Following both Edwardsiella tarda and Vibrio anguillarum challenge, Sm TLR7 was significantly down-regulated in gill and intestine, and up-regulated in skin. Moreover, Sm TLR7 was significantly up-regulated in head kidney macrophages following LPS, LTA, PGN and polyI:C stimulation, as well as showed the strongest binding ability to LPS, followed by PGN, LTA, and polyI:C in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, following RNAi of Sm TLR7, MyD88 and IL-1β were slightly up-regulated, while TRAF6 and IL-8 were significantly down-regulated. The characterization of TLR7 can expand our understanding of the PRRs in teleost fishes, and eventually aid the exploration of interactions between host and pathogen. • The TLR7 gene from turbot exhibited highly similarities with that in other teleosts. • Turbot TLR7 was significantly regulated in mucosal tissues following different bacteria challenge. • Turbot TLR7 showed significantly strong responses to LPS, LTA, PGN and poly I:C stimulation. • Following RNAi of TLR7, TRAF6 and IL-8 were significantly down-regulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]