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Nucleotide sequence, polymorphism, and evolution of ovine MHC class II DQA genes

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Abstract

The nucleotide sequence of all exons and introns, excluding exon 1, of the ovine major histocompatibility complex (MhcOvar) genes analogous to the HLA-DQA1 and -DQA2 genes has been determined and the gene structure found to be similar to that reported for other species. The predicted amino acid sequences of the Ovar-DQA genes have been compared with the equivalent DQA genes in man, mouse, rat, rabbit, and cattle and used to determine the evolutionary relationships of the sheep class II genes to these other species. Northern blot analysis of sheep mRNA using exon specific probes for each of the two Ovar-DQA genes show that both genes are transcribed, whereas in humans there is no evidence that HLA-DQA2 is transcriptionally active. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) have been used to define a polymorphic series of alleles in both Ovar-DQA genes and have indicated that the number of DQA genes is not constant in sheep as it is in humans, but varies with the haplotype.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Animal Biotechnology, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia

    Peter C. Scott, Kathryn J. Gogolin-Ewens, Timothy E. Adams & Malcolm R. Brandon

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  1. Peter C. Scott
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  2. Kathryn J. Gogolin-Ewens
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  3. Timothy E. Adams
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  4. Malcolm R. Brandon
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Additional information

The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank nucleotide sequence database and have been assigned the accession numbers M33304 and M33305.

Address correspondence and offprint requests to: M. R. Brandon.

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Scott, P.C., Gogolin-Ewens, K.J., Adams, T.E. et al. Nucleotide sequence, polymorphism, and evolution of ovine MHC class II DQA genes. Immunogenetics 34, 69–79 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00211419

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00211419

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