title: Evolution and comparative analysis of the bat MHC-I region.
abstract: Bats are natural hosts to numerous viruses and have ancient origins, having diverged from other eutherian mammals early in evolution. These characteristics place them in an important position to provide insights into the evolution of the mammalian immune system and antiviral immunity. We describe the first detailed partial map of a bat (Pteropus alecto) MHC-I region with comparative analysis of the MHC-I region and genes. The bat MHC-I region is highly condensed, yet relatively conserved in organisation, and is unusual in that MHC-I genes are present within only one of the three highly conserved class I duplication blocks. We hypothesise that MHC-I genes first originated in the β duplication block, and subsequently duplicated in a step-wise manner across the MHC-I region during mammalian evolution. Furthermore, bat MHC-I genes contain unique insertions within their peptide-binding grooves potentially affecting the peptide repertoire presented to T cells, which may have implications for the ability of bats to control infection without overt disease.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.|Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.|Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857.
authors.forename: Justin H J
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tachedjian
authors.affiliation: Institute for Applied Ecology, The University of Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia.
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deakin
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Wynne
authors.affiliation: Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Haring
authors.affiliation: CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: Ivano
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Broz
authors.affiliation: CSIRO, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: Honglei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Belov
authors.affiliation: Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore 169857.
authors.forename: Lin-Fa
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Business Unit, Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I / Q000276:immunology*; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000276:immunology; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides