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Characterisation of MHC class II DRB genes in the northern tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri)

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Abstract

Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) mainly code for proteins of the immune system of jawed vertebrates. In particular, MHC class I and II cell surface proteins are crucial for the self/non-self discrimination of the adaptive immune system and are the most polymorphic genes in vertebrates. Positive selection, gene duplications and pseudogenes shape the face of the MHC and reflect a highly dynamic evolution. Here, we present for the first time data of the highly polymorphic MHC class II DRB exon 2 of a representative of the mammalian order scandentia, the northern tree shrew Tupaia belangeri. We found up to eight different alleles per individual and determined haplotype constitution by intensively studying their inheritance. The alleles were assigned to four putative loci, all of which were polymorphic. Only the most polymorphic locus was subject to positive selection within the antigen binding sites and only alleles of this locus were transcribed.

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  1. Claus Oppelt

    Present address: Limnological Institute, University of Konstanz, Mainaustr. 252, 78464, Constance, Germany

  2. Rebecca Wutzler

    Present address: Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, 82305, Seewiesen, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Physiology, University of Bayreuth, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Claus Oppelt, Rebecca Wutzler & Dietrich von Holst

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  1. Claus Oppelt
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Correspondence to Claus Oppelt.

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Fig. 5

Neighbour-joining trees of two segments due to a recombination breakpoint determined with GARD (Pond et al. 2006). The left tree represents the topology of the fragment 1–104 bp, and the right tree the second fragment from 105–171 bp. (DOC 67 kb)

Table 2

Top ten species with Genbank sequence homologs to T. belangeri DRB alleles of the four putative loci. The Genbank database was surveyed for homologies with Blast using the megablast option for highly similar sequences (Altschul et al. 1990). Hits are sorted by the maximum score. (DOC 50 kb)

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Oppelt, C., Wutzler, R. & von Holst, D. Characterisation of MHC class II DRB genes in the northern tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri). Immunogenetics 62, 613–622 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-010-0466-8

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