Abstract
The human MHC spans about 4 million base pairs (4 Mbp) of DNA at chromosome position 6p21.3 and is one of the most intensively studied regions of the human genome, containing over 70 known genes (Klein 1986). The MHC can be conveniently divided up into three regions: the class I sequences at the telomeric end of the complex; the class II loci at the centromeric end; and, between these, the class III genes including those for the complement components C2, C4 and Bf (Trowsdale and Campbell 1988). Accurate physical maping using pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) has revealed long stretches of DNA between the regions and between individual class I and class II loci. New genes have recently been found in these areas, genes that have no sequence relationship with class I, class II or complement components.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Dugast IJ, Papadopoulos P, Zappone E, Jones C, Theriault K, Handelman CJ, Benarous R, Drysdale JW (1990) Identification of two human ferritin H genes on the short arm of chromosome 6. Genomics 6:204–211
Dunham I, Sargent CA, Dawkins RL, Campbell RD (1989) An analysis of variation in the longrange genomic organization of the human major histocompatibility complex class II region by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. Genomics 5:787–796
Fischer Lindahl K, Hermal E, Loveland BE, Richards S, Wang CR, Yonekawa H (1990) Molecular definition of a mitochondrially encoded mouse minor histocompatibility antigen. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 54:563–570
Freemont PS, Hanson IM, Trowsdale J (1991) Letter to thew editor: A novel cysteine-rich sequence motif. Cell 64:483–484
Guillemot F, Auffray C, Orr HT, Strominger JL (1988) MHC antigen genes. In: Hames BD, Glover DM (eds) IRL Molecular immunology. Oxford, pp 81–143
Hanson IM, Trowsdale J (1991) Colinearity of novel genes in the class II regions of the MHC in mouse and human. Immunogenetics 34:5–11
Hanson IM, Gorman P, Solomon E, Cheah KSE, Trowsdale J (1989) The human a 2 (XI) collagen gene (COL IIA2) maps to the centromeric border of the major histocompatibility complex on chromosome 6. Genomics 5:925–931
Hanson IM, Poustka A, Trowsdale J (1991) New genes in the glass II region of the human major histocompatibility complex. Genomics 10:417–424
Hardy DA, Bell JI, Long EO, Lindsten T, McDevitt HO (1986) Mapping of the class II region of the human major histocompatibility complex by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. Nature 323:453–455
Kendall E, Sargent CA, Campbell RD (1990) Human major histocompatibility complex contains a new cluster of genes between the HLA-D and complement C4 loci. Nucleic Acids Res 18:7251–7257
Klein J (1986) Natural history of the MHC. Wiley, New York
Koller BH, Geraghty DE, DeMars R, Duvick L, Rich SS, Orr HT (1989) Chromosomal organisation of the human major histocompatibility complex class I gene family. J Exp Med 169:469–480
Parham P (1990) Transporters of delight. Nature 348:674–675
Ragoussis J, Bloemer K, Pola H, Messer G, Weiss E, Ziegler A (1989) A physical map including a new class I gene (cda 12) of the major histocompatibility complex (A2/B13 haplotype) derived from a monosomy 6 mutant cell line. Genomics 4:301–308
Sargent CA, Dunham I, Trowsdale J, Campbell RD (1989) Human major histocompatibility complex contains genes for the major heat shock protein HSP70. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:1968–1972
Spies T, Bresnahan M, Strominger JL (1989a) Human major histocompatibility complex contains a minimum of 19 genes between the complement cluster and HLA-B. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:8955–8958
Spies T, Blanck G, Bresnahan M, Sands J, Strominger JL (1989b) A new cluster of genes within the human major histocompatibility complex. Science 243:214–217
Trowsdale J, Campbell RD (1988) Physical map of the human HLA region. Immunol Today 9:34–35
Watkins DI, Chen ZW, Hughes AL, Evans MG, Tedder TF, Letvin NL (1990) Evolution of the MHC class I genes of a new world primate from ancestral homologues of human neo-classical genes. Nature 346:60–63
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Trowsdale, J., Hanson, I. (1993). MHC Genes. In: Solheim, B.G., Ferrone, S., Möller, E. (eds) The HLA System in Clinical Transplantation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77506-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77506-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-77508-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-77506-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive