Understanding the molecular response of non-mammalian Toll-like receptor 22 (TLR22) in amphibious air-breathing catfish, Clarias magur (Hamilton, 1822) to bacterial infection or ligand stimulation through molecular cloning and expression profiling.

Toll-like receptor (TLR) 22 is a non-mammalian TLR, which is identified initially as a functional substitute of mammalian TLR3 in recognizing cell surface long dsRNA in teleosts. To understand the pathogen surveillance role played by TLR22 in an air-breathing catfish model the full-length cDNA of TLR22 was identified in Clarias magur and found to be consisted of 3597 nucleotides encoding for 966 amino acids. In the deduced amino acid sequence of C. magur TLR22 (CmTLR22) key signature domains such as one signal peptide, 13 LRRs, one transmembrane domain, one LRR_CT domain and an intracellular TIR domain could be identified. The CmTLR22 formed a separate cluster with other catfish TLR22 genes and situated within the TLR22 cluster in the phylogenetic analysis of teleost TLR groups. The CmTLR22 was constitutively expressed in all the 12 tested tissues of healthy C. magur juveniles with the highest transcript abundance in spleen followed by brain, intestine and head kidney. Following induction with the dsRNA viral analogue, poly (I:C), the level of expression of CmTLR22 was up-regulated in tissues such as kidney, spleen and gills. Whereas, in Aeromonas hydrophila-challenged C. magur, the expression levels of CmTLR22 was found to be up-regulated in gills, kidney and spleen, and down-regulated in liver. The findings of the current study suggest that the specific function of TLR22 is evolutionarily conserved in C. magur and might play a key role in mounting immune response by recognizing Gram-negative fish pathogen such as A. hydrophila and aquatic viruses in air-breathing amphibious catfishes.