The study of the immune processes that occur in the digestive tract of animals and ensure gut-homeostasis has increased considerably. This topic is of current medical importance in relation to human gut diseases linked to the alteration of gut-microbiota. Variable region-containing Chitin-Binding Proteins (VCBPs), identified originally in the cephalochordate Branchiostoma floridae, are characterized by two V -type immunoglobulin domains and a chitin binding domain. This character could reflect an important transition between non-rearranging immune molecules and conventional rearranging antigen-binding receptors of jawed vertebrates. In Ciona intestinalis the three VCBP molecules, VCBP-A, -B and -C, are localised in immune competent tissues, such as coelomocytes and stomach cells, bind bacteria in the stomach lumen, and act as opsonins enhancing phagocytosis of bacteria by granular amoebocytes. These features stress the role for VCBPs in immune recognition.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:607483 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Liberti, Assunta |
| Publisher | Open University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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