Reduced MIC gene repertoire variation in west African chimpanzees as compared to humans Article uri icon

abstract

  • The human major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related (MIC) genes are members of a multicopy family showing similarity to the classical HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C genes. Only the MICA and MICB genes produce functional transcripts. In chimpanzees, however, only one MIC gene is expressed, showing an intermediate character, resulting from a deletion fusing the MICA and MICB gene segments together. The present population study illustrates that all chimpanzee haplotypes sampled possess the hybrid MICAIB gene. In contrast to the human situation this gene displays reduced allelic variation. The observed repertoire reduction of the chimpanzee MICAIB gene is in conformity with the severe repertoire condensation documented for Patr-B locus lineages, probably due to the close proximity of both genes. © The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • 2005-01-01