title: Molecular characterization of the Rh-like locus and gene transcripts from the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).
abstract: The human Rh blood group locus consists of two structurally related genes (D and CcEe) in Rh-positive haplotypes but a single gene (CcEe) in Rh-negative haplotypes. The genome of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), while not expressing any of the human Rh D, C, c, E, or e specificities, carries a Rh-like locus strongly related to the human Rh locus. Southern blot analysis suggested the presence of only one Rh-like gene with an additional truncated fragment corresponding to the 5' region. RNA preparations from M. mulatta bone marrow cells contained Rh-like species of 1.7 kb. Two allelic Rh-like transcripts were amplified by PCR and sequenced. The predicted translation product of the first transcript was a 417-amino-acid protein closely similar to the human Rh counterpart. The predicted product of the second transcript consisted of a 361-amino-acid polypeptide truncated in the NH2 terminal region and differing from the former by a few substitutions. The macaque Rh-like protein sequences differed from those of human D and Cc/Ee polypeptides by 22-25%, whereas the degree of identity between the human proteins was 91.5%. Implications of these results in the analysis of the evolutionary pathway of the Rh locus are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 76 Institut National de Transfusion Sanguine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mouro
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Le Van Kim
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cherif-Zahar
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Salvignol
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blancher
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cartron
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Colin
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D012204:Rh-Hr Blood-Group System / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; C087038:MAC-A protein, Macaca mulatta; C087039:MAC-B protein, Macaca mulatta; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012204:Rh-Hr Blood-Group System; D004247:DNA