title: Structure and polymorphism of two stress-activated protein kinase genes centromeric of the MHC: SAPK2a and SAPK4.
abstract: As MHC genes are potent determinants of susceptibility to immunopathological diseases, the mapping of SAPK2a (CSBP) and SAPK4 to chromosome 6p 21.2-21.3 suggested that these genes may mediate the effects of the MHC on disease. Here we describe the genomic structure and localisation of both genes approximately 2.3Mb centromeric of HLA-DP. Examination of the complete coding region and selected intronic regions of SAPK2a and SAPK4 from 22 human EBV-transformed B-cell lines of different MHC haplotypes and racial background revealed complete sequence conservation. There were no notable differences in levels of expression of SAPK2a and SAPK4 mRNA in cell lines of different MHC haplotypes or racial origin. Examination of the SAPK2a and SAPK4 sequences from two chimpanzees revealed 3 nucleotide differences between human and chimpanzee in each gene resulting in only one amino acid change in SAPK4, and 6 nucleotide substitutions plus 2 deletions in 600bp of intronic sequence from SAPK4. This highlights the selective pressure placed on these genes to maintain their protein sequence, but does not favour a role in genetic regulation of disease or provide evidence of linkage disequilibrium with the MHC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Immunology, Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Herbison
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sayer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bellgard
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Allcock
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D002460:Cell Line; D002503:Centromere; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005091:Exons; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics*; D048292:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 13; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D048292:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 13; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases