Molecular Characterization, Expression and Functional Analysis of Chicken STING

Area of Science:

• * Immunology and molecular biology
• * Innate immunity and antiviral responses

Background:

• * Innate immunity relies on pattern recognition receptors to detect pathogens.
• * STING (stimulator of interferon genes) is vital for sensing viral nucleic acids and initiating type I interferon responses.
• * Limited information exists on chicken STING's molecular characteristics and function.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To clone and characterize the full-length chicken STING cDNA.
• * To investigate the tissue distribution of chicken STING expression.
• * To determine the role of chicken STING in antiviral defense.

Main Methods:

• * Cloning of full-length chicken STING cDNA.
• * Sequence analysis and multiple sequence alignments.
• * Real-time PCR for gene expression analysis.
• * In vitro and in vivo viral infection models (NDV).
• * Stimulation with poly(I:C) and poly(dA:dT).

Main Results:

• * Full-length chicken STING cDNA (1341 bp) was cloned, encoding a 379-amino acid protein.
• * Chicken STING shows higher sequence similarity to avian STING than mammalian.
• * High STING expression observed in spleen, thymus, and bursa of Fabricius.
• * STING expression significantly upregulated in response to Newcastle disease virus (NDV) infection.
• * Poly(I:C) and poly(dA:dT) stimulation upregulated STING in chicken embryo fibroblasts.

Conclusions:

• * Chicken STING is a key molecule in innate antiviral immunity.
• * Its expression is regulated by viral infection and specific molecular patterns.
• * Further research into STING's function in chicken antiviral pathways is warranted.