Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Demonstration of the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility Tool for Rapid Assessment of Protein Conservation
Published on: February 10, 2023
Evolution and species-specific conservation of toll-like receptors in terrestrial vertebrates
Masoumeh Bagheri1, Azadeh Zahmatkesh1
1a Department of Genomics and Genetic Engineering, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO) , Karaj , Iran.
Abstract:
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are known for their essential roles in promotion of innate immunity and induction of adaptive immunity through recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or danger associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). TLR genes are excellent models for the study of the selective pressure enforced by microorganisms on the host genome. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that interactions between pathogens and immune systems have changed during evolution. Selective pressure for maintenance of specific pathogen recognition has led to evolution of TLRs under both positive and purifying selection. However, intracellular and cell-surface TLRs have been affected differently due to their variation in conservational constraints. In this review, we summarize some of the main studies on the influence of selection on shaping the evolution of several TLR gene families in different terrestrial vertebrate species. We also describe the effect of evolution on the function of different TLRs and their specific conservations in these species and show similarities and differences in evolutionary patterns of TLR orthologs among species as well as among TLR gene families.
Related Concept Videos
The Evidence for Evolution
Multi-species Conserved Sequences
Although the genome of each species varies greatly from each other, a few sequences are highly conserved. Such conserved...
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally...
What is Conservation Biology?
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
Convergent Evolution

