Effects of toll-like receptor 2 gene mutation on resistance to bovine brucellosis

• In this manuscript, we chose TLR2 gene that both play important roles in innate immune and adaptive immune systems to investigate whether the functional genetic variations in TLR2 gene (T385G, G398A and C1828T) confer susceptibility or resistance to bovine brucellosis.
• Results showed that T385G GG genotype cows had significantly higher relative risk of brucellosis incidence than other two genotype cows.
• The study of this research indicates that TLR2 gene could be a potential genetic marker for bovine brucellosis susceptibility.

Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is an important pattern recognition receptor that play a pivotal role in the innate and adaptive immune systems. TLR2 has been identified as susceptibility loci for various infectious diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the functional genetic variations in TLR2 gene (T385G, G398A and C1828T) confer susceptibility or resistance to bovine brucellosis. The variants of TLR2 gene were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 511 Chinese Holstein cows (143 infected with brucellosis, 368 non-infected). For SNP T385G, genotypic frequency of GT and GG were significantly difference between brucella-infected and non-infected animals [p=0.0401 for both GT and GG; GT Odds Ratio (OR)=1.410 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.923–2.155); and GG OR=2.084 95% CI (1.116–3.893)]. Similarly, G allele showed significantly higher relative risk of brucellosis incidence than T allele [p=0.0064, OR=1.519 95% CI (1.123–2.053)]. The present study indicates that TLR2 gene could be a potential genetic marker for bovine brucellosis susceptibility.