title: Absence of strong linkage disequilibrium between odorant receptor alleles and the major histocompatibility complex.
abstract: The odorant receptor (OR) genes constitute the largest gene family among vertebrates. While over 800 loci are present in the human genome, their allele diversity is still poorly characterized. It has been hypothesized that the products of OR genes can be relevant in the reproductive context, thereby interacting with products of genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Here we investigated the genetic diversity of the OR2W6P, OR2B8P, OR1F12 and OR12D2 genes, in order to define haplotypes and haplotype frequencies. We measured levels of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between these OR genes and the MHC genes HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1. This was accomplished through the assessment of 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in samples from 61 family trios. We characterized 26 alleles among the four OR genes and identified three SNPs that had not yet been reported. Based on our haplotype analysis, LD spanning the OR-HLA region is not very strong, and therefore not enough to enable selection regarding specific HLA-OR haplotypes.
authors: Laboratório de Imunogenética e Histocompatibilidade - LIGH, Departamento de Genética, Centro Politécnico, Universidade Federal do Paraná - UFPR, Av. Coronel Francisco H. dos Santos, Jardim das Américas, CEP: 81530990, Caixa Postal 19071 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Electronic address: samuel-bio@hotmail.com.
authors: José Samuel
authors: JS
authors: da Silva
authors: Pryscilla Fanini
authors: PF
authors: Wowk
authors: Fabiana
authors: F
authors: Poerner
authors: Pablo Sandro Carvalho
authors: PS
authors: Santos
authors: Maria da Graça
authors: Mda G
authors: Bicalho
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001938:Brazil; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018035:Receptors, Odorant
keywords: EXO; Exonuclease I; HLA; LD; MHC; OR; SAP; SNP; human leucocyte antigen; linkage disequilibrium; major histocompatibility complex; odorant receptors; shrimp alkaline phosphatase; single nucleotide polymorphism