The evolutionary characteristics and structural biology of Gallus toll-like receptor 21

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are an important part of the innate immune system, acting as a first line of defense against many invading pathogens. The ligand known to bind Gallus toll-like receptor 21 (gTLR21) is the unmethylated cytosine phosphate guanine dideoxy nucleotide motif; however, the evolutionary characteristics and structural biology of gTLR21 are poorly elaborated. Our results suggest that gTLR21 is phylogenetically and evolutionarily related to the TLR11 family and is perhaps a close ortholog of the Mus TLR13. Structural biology of homology modeling of the gTLR21 ectodomain structure suggests that it has no Z-loop like that seen in Mus TLR9. The cytosolic toll-IL-1 receptor region of gTLR21 contains a central 4-stranded parallel β-sheet (βA-βD) surrounded by 5 α-helices (αA-αE) on both sides, a highly conserved structure also seen in other TLRs. Molecular docking analysis reveals that the gTLR21 ectodomain has the potential to distinguish between different ligands. Homodimer analysis results also suggest that Phe842 and Pro844 of the BB loop and Cys876 of the αC helix in gTLR21 are conserved in other cytosolic toll-IL-1 receptor domains of other TLRs and may contribute to the docking of homodimers. Our study on the evolutionary characteristics and structural biology of gTLR21 reveals that the molecule may have a broader role to play in innate immune system; however, further experimental validation is required to confirm our findings.