Office: 843-792-0597
Lab: 843-792-9935
Fax: 843-792-4850
Email: warrgw@musc.edu
BSB-743

Research Interests

The laboratory's research is focused on the evolution of immune recognition. We are interested in such issues as the molecular mechanisms used by diverse groups of animals to recognize foreignness, and how these immune mechanisms serve the different defense needs of diverse animals, given the variety of challenges that they face in their environment. We use two primary models: the channel catfish (a teleost fish), and the Pekin duck, to study the nature of the immunoglobulin (antibody) genes, how their expression is regulated, and the properties of the antibodies they encode. The fish are of interest since they represent the earliest evolutionary level at which typical T and B lymphocytes, and immunoglobulin-based humoral immunity, can be found. The current focus of our research is the transcriptional enhancer present in the heavy chain gene of the catfish. Although the structure of the catfish enhancer is very different from that of the mouse, both enhancers function in a tissue-specific, cross-species manner. We are seeking to explain this by understanding the nature of the Octamer transcription factors in the catfish, and the manner in which they interact with binding sites in the enhancer. The duck has attracted our attention because, on the one hand, it has an inept immune response, while on the other hand it is a major reservoir of, and reassortment vessel for, novel strains of the influenza A virus that cause epidemic disease in humans. We have discovered that the duck utilizes unique mechanisms of immunoglobulin gene expression that help to explain the poor functional properties of its antibodies, and research continues into the mechanisms responsible for the defective regulation of its Ig genes.

Selected Publications

• Gross, P.S., Bartlett, T.C., Browdy, C.L., Chapman, R.W. and Warr, G.W. (2001) Immune gene discovery by expressed sequence tag analysis of hemocytes and hepatopancreas in the Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, and the Atlantic White Shrimp, L. setiferus. Dev. Comp. Immunol., 25(7): 565-577.
• Cioffi, C.C., Middleton, D.L., Wilson, M.R., Miller, N.W., Clem, L.W. and Warr, G.W. (2001) An IgH enhancer that drives transcription through basic helix-loop-helix anbd Oct transcription factor binding motifs. Functional analysis of the E(mu)3' enhancer of the catfish. J. Biol. Chem., 276(30): 27825-27830.
• Solem, S.T., Hordvik, I., Killie, J.A., Warr, G.W. and Jorgensen, T.O. (2001) Diversity of the immunoglobulin heavy chain in the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) is contributed by genes from two parallel IgH isoloci. Dev. Comp. Immunol., 25(5-6): 403-417.
• Barker, K.S., Quiniou, S.M., Wilson, M.R., Bengten, E., Stuge, T.B., Warr, G.W., Clem, L.W. and Miller, N.W. (2000) Telomerase expression and telomere length in immortal leukocyte lines from channel catfish. Dev. Comp. Immunol., 24(6-7): 583-595.
• Bengten, E., Wilson, M., Miller, N., Clem, L.W., Pilstrom, L., and Warr, G.W. (2000) Immunoglobulin isotypes: structure, function and genetics. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 248: 189-219.
• Widholm, H., Lundback, A.S., Daggfeldt, A., Magnadottir, B., Warr, G.W. and Pilstrom, L. (1999) Light chain variable region diversity in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.). Dev. Comp. Immunol., 23(3): 231-240.
• Ross, D.A., Lyles, M., Ledford, B.E., Magor, B.G., Wilson, M.R., Miller, N.W., Clem, L.W., Middleston, D.L, and Warr, G.W. (1999) Catfish Oct2 binding affinity and functional preference for octamer motifs, and interaction with OBF-1 Dev. Comp. Immunol., 23(3): 199-211.
• Ristow, S.S., Grabowski, L.D., Thompson, S.M., Warr, G.W., Kaattari, S.L., and de Avila, J.M. (1999) Coding sequences of the MHC II beta chain of homozygous rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Dev. Comp. Immunol., 23(1): 51-60.
• Magor, B.G., Ross, D.A., Pilstrom, L., and Warr, G.W. (1999) Transcriptional enhancers and the evolution of the IgH locus. Immunology Today 20: 13-17.
• Magor, K.E., Warr, G.W., Bando, Y., Middleton, D.L., and Higgins, D.A. (1998) Secretory immune system of the duck (Anas platyrhynchos). Identification and expression of the genes encoding IgA and IgM heavy chains. Eur. J. Immunol. 28: 1063-1068.
• Warr, G.W. and Higgins, D.A. (1995). IgY: Clues to the origins of modern antibodies. Immunology Today 16: 392-398.