title: The grapes of incompatibility.
abstract: When two colonies of the tunicate Botryllus contact each other, they either fuse into a single colony or mount a destructive reaction, which keeps them apart. Which of the two reactions takes place is determined by a single, highly polymorphic fusion/histocompatibility (FuHC) locus. Recent communications report the cloning and characterization of the FuHC locus and suggest that its function may be to protect against parasitism by conspecific stem cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002459:Cell Fusion; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000502:physiology*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D018183:Transplantation Chimera / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014561:Urochordata / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins