Phylogenetic reconstruction, synteny analysis, conserved motif alignment of functional domains and pathway association mining were performed.
Key Findings
IL-12 receptors originated during mollusk evolution, while ligand subunits p19/p28 underwent lineage-specific expansion in vertebrate lineages.
Three hundred-million-year conserved motifs within the fibronectin type III domain constitute the core interface mediating stable receptor-ligand binding.
Ultra-conserved amino acid residues under evolutionary constraint were identified, providing precise anchoring sites for rational design of targeted immunotherapeutics against inflammation and tumors.
The corresponding article Evolutionary insights into Interleukin-12 family targets across 405 species was published in Frontiers in Immunology (IF: 7.7)