Polymorphism of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) gene in sheep

Bacterial and synthetic DNA containing unmethylated CpG dinucleotides in particular sequence contexts, activates the vertebrate immune system through Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). In this study, we use PCR-single-strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis to investigate genetic variation in a key region of the ovine TLR9 gene. Three novel SSCP patterns, representing three different sequences, were identified. Either one or two different sequences were detected in individual sheep and all the sequences identified shared high homology to the TLR9 sequences from a variety of species, suggesting that these sequences represent allelic variants of the ovine TLR9 gene. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in the region amplified and two of them were non-synonymous substitutions that would result in amino acid changes. Variation detected here might have an impact on the structure and/or function of TLR9 and hence affect the immune response to pathogens.