Pigeon employs a conserved IRF7 gene to mediate innate immune response
Qi Shao, Qiuju Liu, Jie Wang, Shuhan Li, Zhaofei Wang, Jingjiao Ma, Hengan Wang, Yaxian Yan, Yuqiang Cheng, Jianhe Sun · 2026
Read Pigeon employs a conserved IRF7 gene to mediate innate immune response by Qi Shao, Qiuju Liu, Jie Wang, Shuhan Li, Zhaofei Wang, Jingjiao Ma, Hengan Wang, Yaxian Yan, Yuqiang Cheng, Jianhe Sun (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13589148.txt.
Description
Qi Shao and nine colleagues clone a pigeon immune gene to learn why pigeons shrug off viruses that kill chickens. The gene, IRF7, is a master switch for interferon, the alarm protein that rallies antiviral defenses. Working in 2026, the team mapped the pigeon's version, compared it across species, and tested what happens in bird embryo cells when the gene is switched up or down against several viruses.
The gene's two working domains proved strongly conserved across species. Newcastle disease virus and flu mimics raised its activity, and extra IRF7 switched on interferons and their helper genes, throttling Newcastle and vesicular stomatitis viruses. Pigeon and chicken versions outperformed human and bat versions at suppressing virus growth in cells lacking the gene. One domain was essential for the effect. The authors place IRF7 near the heart of the pigeon's famed virus resistance.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Qi Shao, Qiuju Liu, Jie Wang, Shuhan Li, Zhaofei Wang, Jingjiao Ma, Hengan Wang, Yaxian Yan, Yuqiang Cheng, Jianhe Sun |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 34 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |