Skip Navigation


MBE Advance Access originally published online on September 14, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2006 23(1):137-143; doi:10.1093/molbev/msj016
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/1/137    most recent
msj016v1
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 (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bos, D. H.
Right arrow Articles by Waldman, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bos, D. H.
Right arrow Articles by Waldman, B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Article

Evolution by Recombination and Transspecies Polymorphism in the MHC Class I Gene of Xenopus laevis

David H. Bos1 and Bruce Waldman

School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

E-mail: dbos{at}purdue.edu.

The patterns of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) evolution involve duplications, deletions, and independent divergence of loci during episodes punctuated by natural selection. Major differences in MHC evolution among taxa have previously been attributed to variation in linkage patterns of class I and class II MHC genes. Here we characterize patterns of evolution in the MHC class Ia gene of Xenopus laevis in terms of polymorphism, recombination, and extent of transspecies polymorphism. We also compare these patterns to see if a correlation exists with linkage or separation of the MHC class I and class II regions as seen in amphibians and teleost fishes. In X. laevis, we find high levels of polymorphism. Also, genetic exchange is relatively frequent and occurs in intron II, reshuffling allelic forms of exons 2 and 3. Evolutionary relationships among class I alleles show an intermingling of alleles from divergent Xenopus species rather than a species-specific clustering. Results indicate that the patterns of evolution are similar to those found in salmonid fishes and are different from the mode of evolution seen in primates. Similar patterns of class Ia evolution in salmonid fishes and X. laevis suggest that nonlinkage of class I and class II regions alone is insufficient to explain some patterns of MHC evolution in salmonids.

Key Words: transspecies evolution • recombination • exon shuffling • Akaike information criterion (AIC) • Xenopus • MHC


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
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
R. Burri, H. N. Hirzel, N. Salamin, A. Roulin, and L. Fumagalli
Evolutionary Patterns of MHC Class II B in Owls and Their Implications for the Understanding of Avian MHC Evolution
Mol. Biol. Evol., June 1, 2008; 25(6): 1180 - 1191.
[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.