Our initial studies reported on the cloning and characterization of FoxP3 (T regulatory cell specific) for the first time in any teleost species along with T-bet and STAT6 in zebrafish, which are specific to Th1 and Th2 cells respectively and looked at their expression in the zebrafish. Our next studies focused on CD4 expression by T cells and addresses the question whether teleost Th cells are functionally similar to their mammalian counterpart. A CD4 specific antibody was developed and using molecular techniques have been able to characterise for the first time CD4+ cells within the zebrafish. In addition, to the CD4L gene, three other novel CD4 related genes have also been discovered which need to be investigated, which could mean in fish different T helper cell populations exist expressing CD4 related molecules. Another FoxP3 gene was discovered, a factor important in controlling the differentiation and function of T regulatory (Treg) cells, and so we shifted our investigations to studying these FoxP3 molecules within the zebrafish model. These two orthologs of mammalian FoxP3 were only found in zebrafish and it appears that higher vertebrates including modern fish only have one copy of the FoxP3 gene. Through the development of an antibody we were also able to look at the expression of the zebrafish genes within cells and determine where they were being expressed. Lastly, having all the molecular tools that were developed during the course of this thesis, allowed us to use <i>in vivo </i>zebrafish models of <i>Mycobacterium marinum </i>and <i>Salmonella typhimurium </i>infection, and attempt to determine the types of adaptive immune responses that were being developed. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms behind the teleost adaptive immune response will help to establish the zebrafish model for vertebrate immune function.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:540337 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Mitra, Suman |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=165216 |
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