Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (23)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schneider, S.
Right arrow Articles by Klein, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schneider, S.
Right arrow Articles by Klein, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 8, 753-766, Copyright © 1991 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

MHC class II genes of a marsupial, the red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus): identification of new gene families

S Schneider, V Vincek, H Tichy, F Figueroa and J Klein
Max-Planck-Institut fur Biologie, Abteilung Immungenetik, Tubingen, Germany.

In placental mammals, the class II region of the major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) consists of several gene families which show orthologous relationships in the different species. As these families are not orthologous with the Mhc class II beta-chain-encoding gene families of birds, the different mammalian families must have diverged after the separation of birds and mammals approximately 250 Mya but before the radiation of placental mammals (60-80 Mya). To obtain further information about the origin of the class II genes in mammals, we studied the beta-chain-encoding genes of the wallaby as a representative of marsupials, which split from placental mammals approximately 125 Mya. Three beta-chain-encoding genes were isolated from a red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) cDNA library by using a chimpanzee DRB probe, and their nucleotide sequences were determined. The genes are not orthologous to any of the genes in mammals studied thus far but belong to two new families which we designated Maru-DAB and Maru-DBB. One of the three sequences (DAB2) seems to be derived from a transcribed pseudogene; it lacks the codons specifying the first 51 amino acid residues of the beta 2 domain. The fact that the DAB and DBB families have thus far not been found in placental mammals and that none of the DOB, DPB, DQB, or DRB genes seems to be expressed in the one representative marsupial species can be interpreted as suggesting that class II gene families of eutherian and metatherian mammals evolved from different ancestral genes.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J HeredHome page
K. Belov, M. K.-P. Lam, and D. J. Colgan
Marsupial MHC Class II {beta} Genes Are Not Orthologous to the Eutherian {beta} Gene Families
J. Hered., July 1, 2004; 95(4): 338 - 345.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
M. Nei, X. Gu, and T. Sitnikova
Evolution by the birth-and-death process in multigene families of the vertebrate immune system
PNAS, July 22, 1997; 94(15): 7799 - 7806.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.