¹Northeast Forestry University, Faculty of Wildlife and Protected Area, 150040 Harbin, CHINA
²Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Faculty of Basic Medical Science, 150040 Harbin, CHINA DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2025.33666 To investigate the molecular characteristics of the RIG-I gene of whooper swan, RIG-I gene was cloned, sequenced and characterized, and the relative expression levels of the RIG-I gene in five tissues of whooper swans were determined by Real-time Quantitative PCR (qPCR). The RIG-I gene of whooper swan has a 2964 bp CDS that encode a peptide of 987 amino acids, RIG-I is widely expressed in various tissues of the whooper swan, but the expression levels show certain differences. The homology analysis indicated that the RIG-I gene of whooper swan has a more than 90% homology with other Anseriformes birds including mallard, swan goose, black swan and mute swan. Phylogenetic analysis showed that RIG-I gene of whooper swan and other birds have grouped in a separate branch. Gene alignment analysis revealed that RIG-I gene of swan has an extra low complexity region compared with that of non-swan birds. The amino acid alignment analysis showed that RIG-I of swan has a specific S62G phosphorylation site mutation compared with that of other birds and ubiquitination/phosphorylation mutation sites (RNF122, CK2, and REUL I) which differ from that of human. This is the first cloning and characterization of RIG-I gene from whooper swan. It may enhance our understanding of the molecular response mechanism of RIG-I against the influenza virus. Keywords : Cloning, Molecular characterization, RIG-I, Tissue-specific expression, Whooper swan