title: An unusual insertion in intron 2 of apparently functional MHC class I alleles in rhesus macaques.
abstract: Here we describe a nucleotide insertion in intron 2 of two rhesus major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alleles, Mamu-A*05 and Mamu-A*07. This resulted in an intron 2 that was nearly twice the length of any other intron 2 of primate MHC class I genes sequenced to date. This insertion was most similar (93% identity) to the beginning of intron 3 of HLA-A alleles. It was also similar to intron 3 of several human MHC class I pseudogenes and MHC class I pseudogenes from cotton top tamarin and cat. The finding of this insertion in two rhesus MHC class I genes is surprising given the uniformity in length and sequence of introns of functional HLA-A, -B and -C genes.
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53715, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Urvater
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Steffen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rehrauer
authors.forename: D I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Watkins
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I