cDNA cloning of porcine interleukin‐2 receptor‐α gene

Porcine interleukin-2 receptor-alpha subunit (IL-2R alpha) cDNA was cloned from the cDNA library of Con A-stimulated PBMC. The coding sequence of porcine IL-2R alpha, including the signal peptide sequence, is 813 b.p. in length. The identities of the sequence when it was compared with ovine, murine, feline and human sequences were 72.2, 62.4, 69.8 and 68.9% at nucleotide level and 58.9, 44.6, 54.6 and 55.6% at amino acid level, respectively. Then, the coding sequence of porcine IL-2R alpha was subcloned into the COS expression vector, pcDNA3.1/Zeo(+), and transfected into COS-7 cells. The expressed protein was specifically reactive to the mAb, 231-3B2, which seemed to be specific for porcine IL-2R alpha. This result reciprocally confirmed that the mAb, 231-3B2, recognizes porcine IL-2R alpha on a molecular basis.