Identification, Characterization, and Developmental Expression Pattern of Type III Interferon Receptor Gene in the Chinese Goose

Interferons, as the first line of defense against the viral infection, play an important role in innate immune responses. Type III interferon (IFN-λ) was a newly identified member of IFN family, which plays IFN-like antiviral activity. Towards a better understanding of the type III interferon system in birds, type III interferon lambda receptor (IFNLR1) was first identified in the Chinese goose. In this paper, we had cloned 1952 bp for goose IFNLR1 (goIFNLR1), including an ORF of 1539 bp, encoding a 512-amino acid protein with a 20 aa predict signal peptide at its N terminal and a 23 aa transmembrane region. The predicted amino acid sequence of goIFNLR1 has 90%, 73%, and 34% identity with duck IFNLR1 (predicted sequence), chicken IFNLR1, and human IFNLR1, respectively. And the age-related tissue distribution of goIFNLR1 was identified by Real Time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), we found that the goIFNLR1 has a mainly expression in epithelium-rich tissues similar to other species', such as small intestinal, lung, liver, and stomach. Moreover, a relatively high expression of goIFNLR1 was also observed in the secondary immune tissues (harderian gland and cecal tonsil). The identification and tissue distribution of goIFNLR1 will facilitate further study of the role of IFN-λ in goose antiviral defense.