Molecular Cloning and Expression of Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Interleukin-8

Abstract

The bottlenose dolphin interleukin (IL)-8 cDNA was molecularly cloned. The dolphin IL-8 has an open reading frame of 303-bp encoding 101 amino acids. The homology of the amino acid sequence with that of other species was: sheep, 89.1%; cattle, 88.1%; pig, 85.1%; dog, 85.1%; horse, 79.2%; human, 74.5%; and macaque, 72.3%. The amino acid sequence suggested that dolphin IL-8 was a CXC chemokine. The recombinant dolphin IL-8 protein was recognized with anti-ovine IL-8 monoclonal antibody.