The mammalian 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase gene family: evidence for concerted evolution of paralogous Oas1 genes in Rodentia and Artiodactyla.

Multiple 2'-5' oligoadenylate (2-5A) synthetases are important components of innate immunity in mammals. Gene families encoding these proteins have previously been studied mainly in humans and mice. To reconstruct the evolution of this gene family in mammals, a search for additional 2-5A synthetase genes was performed in rat, cattle, pig, and dog. Twelve 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase (Oas) genes were identified in the rat genome, including eight Oas1 genes, two Oas1 pseudogenes, single copies of Oas2 and Oas3, and two Oas-like genes, Oasl1 and Oasl2. Four OAS genes were detected in the pig genome and five OAS genes were found in both the cattle and dog genomes. An OAS3 gene was not found in either the cattle or the pig genome. While two tandemly duplicated OAS-like (OASL) genes were identified in the dog genome, only a single OASL orthologue was found in both the cattle and the pig genomes. The bovine and porcine OASL genes contain premature stop codons and encode truncated proteins, which lack the typical C-terminal double ubiquitin domains. The cDNA sequences of the rat, cattle, pig, and dog OAS genes were amplified, sequenced and compared with each other and with those in the human, mouse, horse, and chicken genomes. Evidence of concerted evolution of paralogous 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetase 1 genes was obtained in rodents (Rodentia) and even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). Calculations using the nonparametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov test suggested that the homogenization of paralogous OAS1 sequences was due to gene conversion rather than stabilizing selection.