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Strong selection of the TLR2 coding region among the Lagomorpha suggests an evolutionary history that differs from other mammals

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Abstract

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are one of the first lines of defense against pathogens and are crucial for triggering an appropriate immune response. Among TLRs, TLR2 is functional in all vertebrates and has high ability in detecting bacterial and viral pathogen ligands. The mammals’ phylogenetic tree of TLR2 showed longer branches for the Lagomorpha clade, raising the hypothesis that lagomorphs experienced an acceleration of the mutation rate. This hypothesis was confirmed by (i) Tajima’s test of neutrality that revealed different evolutionary rates between lagomorphs and the remaining mammals with lagomorphs presenting higher nucleotide diversity; (ii) genetic distances were similar among lagomorphs and between lagomorphs and other mammals; and (iii) branch models reinforced the existence of an acceleration of the mutation rate in lagomorphs. These results suggest that the lagomorph TLR2 has been strongly involved in pathogen recognition, which probably caused a host-pathogen arms race that led to the observed acceleration of the mutation rate.

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Funding

This article is a result of the project AGRIGEN – NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000007, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) supported the FCT Investigator grants of P.J. Esteves (IF/00376/2015) and J. Abrantes (IF/01396/2013).

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  1. CIBIO-UP, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO, Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, nr.7, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal

    Fabiana Neves, Ana Águeda-Pinto, Ana Pinheiro, Joana Abrantes & Pedro J. Esteves

  2. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro J. Esteves

  3. CITS - Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias de Saúde, CESPU, Gandra, Portugal

    Pedro J. Esteves

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  1. Fabiana Neves
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Correspondence to Pedro J. Esteves.

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Neves, F., Águeda-Pinto, A., Pinheiro, A. et al. Strong selection of the TLR2 coding region among the Lagomorpha suggests an evolutionary history that differs from other mammals. Immunogenetics 71, 437–443 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-019-01110-3

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