title: Identification of allelic polymorphism in the caprine IGHA gene.
abstract: Variation in the immunoglobulin heavy alpha chain (IGHA) constant region has been reported in a number of species. In this study, the IGHA gene was investigated in goats using PCR-single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and DNA sequencing. Three novel sequences were identified from 111 Boer and Angora goats. Either one or two sequences were detected in individual goats, and all the sequences shared high homology to the published ovine and bovine IGHA sequences. These sequences were predicted to encode three amino acid sequences, two with a longer hinge region and one with a shorter hinge region. The variation reported here may affect the structure of the hinge and hence the function of IgA.
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology Group, Agriculture and Life Sciences Division, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Huitong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jon G H
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hickford
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006041:Goats / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D052058:Hinge Exons; D007137:Immunoglobulin alpha-Chains / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D007137:Immunoglobulin alpha-Chains; D004247:DNA