Shared class II MHC polymorphisms between humans and chimpanzees

• Published in: Human immunology Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 107 - 121
• Main Authors: Fan, Weimin, Kasahara, Masanori, Gutknecht, Jutta, Klein, Dagmar, Mayer, Werner E., Jonker, Margreet, Klein, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.10.1989; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biological evolution; Cell Line, Transformed; Codon; DNA; DNA Probes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Library; Genes, MHC Class II; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; histocompatibility locus ChLA; HLA-DR Antigens - genetics; Humans; Molecular Sequence Data; Pan troglodytes - genetics; Pan troglodytes - immunology; Phylogeny; Polymorphism, Genetic; EDTA ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid; MHC major histocompatibility complex; EBV Epstein-Barr virus; bp base pairs; Human; HLA-System; Nucleotide sequence; Biological evolution; Major histocompatibility system; Class II histocompatibility antigen; Monkey; Phylogeny; Molecular evolution; ChLA»-System; Vertebrata; Immunogenetics; Mammalia; Gene; DNA; Primates; Computer; Nucleic acid; Computer aided analysis; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0198-8859; 1879-1166
• DOI: 10.1016/0198-8859(89)90096-7

To gain an insight into the evolution of the major histocompatibility complex alleles, three DRB and one DRA genes were isolated from chimpanzee cDNA libraries. The nucleotide sequences of the chimpanzee DRB (ChLA-DRB) genes were then compared with those of the available HLA-DRB alleles by constructing unrooted phylogenetic trees. All three ChLA-DRB genes were found to be more closely related to certain HLA-DRB alleles than unrelated HLA-DRB alleles are to each other. Since available evidence does not support the convergent evolution of MHC alleles, this result is consistent with the idea that closely related ChLA-DRB and HLA-DRB alleles are derived from common ancestral alleles, the existence of which predates the divergence of human and chimpanzee lineages. The predicted amino acid sequences of mature ChLA-DRA and HLA-DRA molecules differ by only one amino acid.