Abstract
Eleven Alu elements have thus far been found in the primate DRB genes: HLA-DRB1*04- Alul, HLA-DRBVII-Alu2, HLA-DRBVII-Alu3, HLA-DRBVII-Alu4, HLA-DRBVII-Alu5, HLA-DRBVIII-Alu6, HLA-DRBVIII-Alu7, HLA-DRBVIII-Alu8, Gogo-DRB8-Alu7, Gogo-DRB8-Alu8, and Patr-DRB6-Alu9. Comparison with consensus sequences indicates that the DRB-Alu elements belong to five different subfamilies -- Sp, Sx, Sq, Sc, and Sb (in the classification scheme of Jurka and Milosavljevic). The Alu-Sp elements are the oldest of the five subfamilies, most of them having been inserted at their current locations more than 38 million years (myr) ago. The Alu-Sb elements are the youngest, having spread through the genome in the last 18 myr. The presence of Alu7 and Alu8 at corresponding positions in orthologous genes provides evidence that they were inserted in the DRB8 gene more than 6 myr ago. The presence of Alu9 in the Patr-DRB6 but not in the orthologous HLA-DRBVI gene indicates that this element is less than 6 myr old. The presence of old Alu elements in several DRB pseudogenes supports the notion of the pseudogenes being very old. No evidence of sequence homogenization could be found for the DRB-Alu elements: they have all conserved their diagnostic nucleotides scattered over the entire length of each element. Hence, no gene conversion apparently occurred in the elements, even in those that are more than 30 myr old. Whether the Alu elements might be responsible for the truncation of some of the DRB pseudogenes cannot be decided at the present time.
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Schönbach, C., Klein, J. (1991). The ALU Repeats of The Primate DRB Genes. In: Klein, J., Klein, D. (eds) Molecular Evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex. NATO ASI Series, vol 59. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84622-9_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84622-9_21
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