Single nucleotide polymorphisms within the promoter region of the rhesus monkey tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene

The human TNF-alpha gene is characterized by several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in its promoter region, in part having been shown to influence TNF-alpha expression and susceptibility to various diseases. The rhesus macaque is widely used as an animal model for a variety of TNF-alpha associated pathological conditions, but little is known about genetic variation within the TNF-alpha promoter region. In order to check for such polymorphisms, primers based on rhesus sequence within 5 UTR were designed and used to amplify a 1 kb product from genomic DNA of 29 animals. Sequencing and cloning revealed a total of 11 polymorphisms leading to five different haplotypes.