Cloning and Identification of Splice Variants of the Porcine PILRA Gene.

Paired immunoglobulin-like type 2 receptors (PILRs) are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily and composed of two subtypes, α and β. PILRα plays an important role in the immune response against invading pathogens, but so far there is no report on porcine PILRα. In order to analyze the potential role of PILRα in porcine disease-resistant breeding, we first cloned the PILRA gene (V1-V3, GenBank accession Nos. KJ143679-81) into pigs, and identified its three splice variants. Each variant conceptually translates into proteins of 271 amino acids (aa), 254aa and 283aa, respectively. Furthermore, quantitative real-time PCR was used to construct expression profiles of each variant in tissues and that induced by Poly(I:C). All three variants had the highest expression levels in the spleen, followed by liver and lung tissues. While levels were low or undetectable in the heart, kidney, stomach, muscle, lymph, large intestine, small intestine and bladder. Poly(I:C) significantly induced the expression of splice variant 1 (V1) of porcine PILRA, but hardly affected the expression of V2 and V3. The results lay a foundation for further study on the role of PILRA in porcine breeding and disease resistance.