Molecular structure, tissue distribution and functional characterization of interferon-γ-inducible lysosomal thiol reductase (GILT) gene in chicken (Gallus gallus)

Interferon-γ-inducible-lysosomal thiol reductase (GILT) plays a key role in the processing and presentation of MHC class II-restricted antigen (Ag) by catalyzing disulfide bond reduction, thus unfolding native protein Ag and facilitating subsequent cleavage by proteases. In this study, we reported the cloning of a GILT gene homologue from chicken (designated cGILT). The open reading frame (ORF) of cGILT consists of 762 bases, encoding a protein of 253 amino acids, with a putative molecular weight of 28 kDa. The deduced protein possesses the typical structural feature of known GILT proteins, including an active-site motif, a GILT signature sequence, and 6 conserved cysteines. Genomic analysis revealed that cGILT gene, spanning a 1868 bp fragment, contained seven exons interrupted by six introns. The result of real-time PCR showed that cGILT mRNA was expressed in a tissue-specific manner, while the cGILT mRNA expression was obviously up-regulated in spleen and PBMCs after stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After expression as a soluble protein in Escherichia coli and purification by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography, cGILT was demonstrated to exhibit thiol reductase activity on IgG substrate.