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Compared with the MHC of typical mammals, the chicken MHC (BF/BL region) of the B12 haplotype is smaller, simpler, and rearranged, with two classical class I genes of which only one is highly expressed. In this study, we describe the development of long-distance PCR to amplify some or all of each class I gene separately, allowing us to make the following points. First, six other haplotypes have the same genomic organization as B12, with a poorly expressed (minor) BF1 gene between DMB2 and TAP2 and a well-expressed (major) BF2 gene between TAP2 and C4. Second, the expression of the BF1 gene is crippled in three different ways in these haplotypes: enhancer A deletion (B12, B19), enhancer A divergence and transcription start site deletion (B2, B4, B21), and insertion/rearrangement leading to pseudogenes (B14, B15). Third, the three kinds of alterations in the BF1 gene correspond to dendrograms of the BF1 and poorly expressed class II B (BLB1) genes reflecting mostly neutral changes, while the dendrograms of the BF2 and well-expressed class II (BLB2) genes each have completely different topologies reflecting selection. The common pattern for the poorly expressed genes reflects the fact the BF/BL region undergoes little recombination and allows us to propose a pattern of descent for these chicken MHC haplotypes from a common ancestor. Taken together, these data explain how stable MHC haplotypes predominantly express a single class I molecule, which in turn leads to striking associations of the chicken MHC with resistance to infectious pathogens and response to vaccines.

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Immunol

Publication Date

01/05/2007

Volume

178

Pages

5744 - 5752

Keywords

Animals, Base Sequence, Chickens, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Expression, Genes, MHC Class I, Genetic Drift, Haplotypes, Histocompatibility Antigens Class I, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Phylogeny, Promoter Regions, Genetic