Comparative genomics of the human, macaque and mouse major histocompatibility complex

• Published in: Immunology Vol. 150; no. 2; pp. 127 - 138
• Main Authors: Shiina, Takashi, Blancher, Antoine, Inoko, Hidetoshi, Kulski, Jerzy K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2017; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Autoimmune Diseases - genetics; Evolution, Molecular; Focus on Macaque Immunology; Genomics; Genotype; haplotype; Histocompatibility - genetics; Humans; Immunity - genetics; Infection - genetics; Macaca; macaque; major histocompatibility complex; Major Histocompatibility Complex - genetics; Mice; Physiology, Comparative; polymorphism; Polymorphism, Genetic; Review; macaque; polymorphism; haplotype; major histocompatibility complex
• ISSN: 0019-2805; 1365-2567
• DOI: 10.1111/imm.12624

Summary The MHC is a highly polymorphic genomic region that encodes the transplantation and immune regulatory molecules. It receives special attention for genetic investigation because of its important role in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses and its strong association with numerous infectious and/or autoimmune diseases. The MHC locus was first discovered in the mouse and for the past 50 years it has been studied most intensively in both mice and humans. However, in recent years the macaque species have emerged as some of the more important and advanced experimental animal models for biomedical research into MHC with important human immunodeficiency virus/simian immunodeficiency virus and transplantation studies undertaken in association with precise MHC genotyping and haplotyping methods using Sanger sequencing and next‐generation sequencing. Here, in this special issue on ‘Macaque Immunology’ we provide a short review of the genomic similarities and differences among the human, macaque and mouse MHC class I and class II regions, with an emphasis on the association of the macaque class I region with MHC polymorphism, haplotype structure and function. We have provided a short review of the genomic similarities and differences between the macaque, human and mouse MHC regions with a particular emphasis on the comparative polymorphisms, haplotype structure and function of the class I region of humans and macaques. The macaque species have had many more MHC class I genes generated by gene duplication events than those in humans, whereas the organization of MHC class II genes are well conserved between the two species.