title: Reptilian class I major histocompatibility complex genes reveal conserved elements in class I structure.
abstract: The polymerase chain reaction was used to isolate clones with class I major histocompatibility complex sequences from fish (carp), amphibian (axolotl), and two species of reptile (lizard and snake). The lizard and snake clones were used to isolate class I cDNA clones. All the sequences showed the expected evolutionary relatedness. The carp and axolotl clones and one lizard cDNA clone lacked the first cysteine in the alpha 3 domain which in other class I heavy chains forms an intradomain disulfide bond. A small number of amino acid residues are conserved in the class I heavy chain sequences from all five classes of vertebrates. In the first two domains they are symmetrically clustered and contribute to intra- and interdomain contacts. None of these invariant residues are at peptide-binding, T-cell receptor-interacting, or CD8-binding positions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Stanford University, CA 94305-5400.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grossberger
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parham
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012104:Reptiles / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D004247:DNA