title: The recombinant HLA-B*5518 allele supports the evidence of conserved haplotype association of rare alleles.
abstract: Allelic polymorphism of the major histocompatibility complex arises mostly from gene recombination. Intralocus gene recombination usually involves short fragments of DNA leading most commonly to single-nucleotide substitutions and rarely involves large fragments. Here, we report a new recombinant human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B*5518 allele that has arisen via recombination of a large fragment of DNA spanning more than 70 nucleotides. During routine HLA typing of potential volunteer donors for the National Marrow Donor Program((R)), a new HLA-B allele was identified in two donors from Guam. The allele, B*5518, appears to be a product of recombination between B*5502 and B*40. Exons 1, 3, and 4 of the new allele belong to B*5502, whereas part of exon 2 belongs to one of B*40 alleles. Introns 1 and 2 appear to belong to B*55, suggesting that the recombination event may have occurred within the homologous parts of exon 2.
authors: HLA Laboratory, American Red Cross Blood Services, Dedham, MA 02026, USA. lebedevat@usa. redcross.org
authors: T V
authors: TV
authors: Lebedeva
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Huang
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Ohashi
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Sibilia
authors: S M
authors: SM
authors: Alosco
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Kempenich
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Yu
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D005838:Genotype; D006141:Guam; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D015235:HLA-B Antigens