title: Major histocompatibility complex class II polymorphisms in forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) and their probable association with purulent disease.
abstract: Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) family are crucial in immune responses because they present pathogenic peptides to T cells. In this study, we analysed the genetic variation in forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) MHC II genes and its potential association with musk deer purulent disease. In total, 53 purulent disease-susceptible and 46 purulent disease-resistant individuals were selected for MHC II exon 2 fragment analysis. Among them, 16 DQ alleles and four additional DR alleles were identified, with DQ exon 2 fragments displaying a low level of polymorphism. The nonsynonymous substitutions exceeded the synonymous substitutions in the peptide-binding sites of DQA2, DQB1 and DQB2. Then, 28 MHC II alleles were used to analyse the distribution patterns of purulent disease between the susceptible and resistant groups. Among them, three alleles (DQA1*01, DQA1*02 and DQA2*04) were found to be resistant, and five alleles (DRB3*07, DQA1*03, DQA1*04, DQA2*05 and DQA2*06) were found to increase susceptibility. Additionally, three haplotypes were found to be putatively associated with musk deer purulent disease. However, these three haplotypes were only found in the resistant or susceptible group, and their frequencies were low. The results from our study support a contributory role of MHC II polymorphisms in the development of purulent disease in forest musk deer.
authors: The Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education and State Conservation Center for Gene Resources of Endangered Wildlife, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: B B
authors: BB
authors: Wang
authors: Y F
authors: YF
authors: Ge
authors: Q H
authors: QH
authors: Wan
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D003062:Codon; D003670:Deer / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006239:Haplotypes; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II