MOLECULAR-CLONING OF EQUINE INTERLEUKIN-1-ALPHA AND INTERLEUKIN-1-BETA CDNAS

Equine interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) and IL-1 beta were molecularly cloned to establish a basis for research on inflammatory and immune r esponses in the horse. Equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC ) were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and cDNA clones of eq uine IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta covering the whole coding sequences were isolated from them. These equine IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta clones cont ained open reading frames encoding 271 and 269 amino acids, respective ly. The deduced amino acid sequence of equine IL-1 alpha showed 71.6% and 60.2% similarity with that of human and murine IL-1 alpha, respect ively. Similarly, the amino acid sequence of equine IL-1 beta showed 6 6.7% and 61.8% similarity with that of human and murine IL-1 beta, res pectively. In both equine IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta, amino acids at mir istoylation sites were well conserved. Dot blot analysis indicated tha t the expression of IL-1 beta was predominant to that of IL-1 alpha in equine PBMC stimulated with LPS or phorbol myristate acetate.