title: Reduced MIC gene repertoire variation in West African chimpanzees as compared to humans.
abstract: The human major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related (MIC) genes are members of a multicopy family showing similarity to the classical HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C genes. Only the MICA and MICB genes produce functional transcripts. In chimpanzees, however, only one MIC gene is expressed, showing an intermediate character, resulting from a deletion fusing the MICA and MICB gene segments together. The present population study illustrates that all chimpanzee haplotypes sampled possess the hybrid MICA/B gene. In contrast to the human situation this gene displays reduced allelic variation. The observed repertoire reduction of the chimpanzee MICA/B gene is in conformity with the severe repertoire condensation documented for Patr-B locus lineages, probably due to the close proximity of both genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Genetics and Refinement, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, The Netherlands. groot@bprc.nl
authors.forename: Natasja G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: Christian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Ernst J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Verschoor
authors.forename: Gaby G M
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Doxiadis
authors.forename: Steven G E
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: Nel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Otting
authors.forename: Ronald E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Bontrop
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial