adaptive molecular evolution of the major histocompatibility complex genes, dra and dqa, in the genus equus自适应主要组织相容性复合体基因的分子进化,属科仕半径标注和dqa中,图.pdfVIP

Adaptive molecular evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex genes, DRA and DQA, in the genus Equus Kamath and Getz Kamath and Getz BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11:128 /1471-2148/11/128 (18 May 2011) Kamath and Getz BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11:128 /1471-2148/11/128 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Adaptive molecular evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex genes, DRA and DQA, in the genus Equus Pauline L Kamath1* and Wayne M Getz1,2 Abstract Background: Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes are central to vertebrate immune response and are believed to be under balancing selection by pathogens. This hypothesis has been supported by observations of extremely high polymorphism, elevated nonsynonymous to synonymous base pair substitution rates and trans- species polymorphisms at these loci. In equids, the organization and variability of this gene family has been described, however the full extent of diversity and selection is unknown. As selection is not expected to act uniformly on a functional gene, maximum likelihood codon-based models of selection that allow heterogeneity in selection across codon positions can be valuable for examining MHC gene evolution and the molecular basis for species adaptations. Results: We investigated the evolution of two class II MHC genes of the Equine Lymphocyte Antigen (ELA), DRA and DQA, in the genus Equus with the addition of novel alleles identified in plains zebra (E. quagga, formerly E. burchelli). We found that both genes exhibited a high degree of polymorphism and inter-specific sharing of allele lineages. To our knowledge, DRA allelic diversity was discovered to be higher than has ever been observed in vertebrates. Evidence was also found to