title: Genetic characterization of MHC class II DQB exon 2 variants in gayal (Bos frontalis).
abstract: In the present study, exon 2 of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II DQB gene from 39 gayals (Bos frontalis) was isolated, characterized and compared with previously reported patterns for other bovidae. It was revealed by sequence analyses that there are 36 DQB exon 2 variants among 39 gayals. These variants exhibited a high degree of nucleotide and amino acid substitutions with most amino acid variations occurring at positions forming the peptide-binding sites (PBS). The DQB loci were analysed for patterns of synonymous (dS) and non-synonymous (dN) substitution. The gayals were observed to be under strong balancing selection in the DQB exon 2 PBS (dN= 0.094,P= 0.001). It appears that this variability among gayals could confer the ability to mount immune responses to a wide variety of peptides or pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University , Kunming 650201 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yongke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University , Kunming 650201 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University , Kunming 650201 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guozhi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University , Kunming 650201 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tiantian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University , Kunming 650201 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University , Kunming 650201 , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: DQB exon 2; Gayal (Bos frontalis); major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphism; peptide-binding sites (PBS)