TY - JOUR
T1 - The most primitive vertebrates with jaws possess highly polymorphic MHC class I genes comparable to those of humans
AU - Okamura, Kazuhiko
AU - Ototake, Mitsuru
AU - Nakanishi, Teruyuki
AU - Kurosawa, Yoshikazu
AU - Hashimoto, Keiichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Susumu Ohno for his comments on the early version of our manuscript. We thank Shuzo Okubo at the Shima Marineland Foundation for his help in obtaining the sharks, Hisateru Yamaguchi for his help with the initial step of preparing shark samples, Keiji Miura for introducing a small-scaled DNA extraction method, and Jim Kaufman for the discussion of the cytoplasmic domains. This work was supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan; the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan; and Fujita Health University.
PY - 1997/12
Y1 - 1997/12
N2 - We report the isolation and extensive analysis of highly polymorphic MHC class I genes from sharks (Triakis scyllia), which belong to the most primitive vertebrate group with jaws, the cartilaginous fish. Predicted complete peptide-binding domains showed retention of the critical amino acid residues that would interact with antigenic peptide termini and revealed extensive allelic polymorphisms comparable to those of classic human MHC class I molecules. Mosaic structures were apparent in these domains, suggesting recombinational mechanisms to create allelic diversity. The present study demonstrates the establishment of the basic strategy for antigen-presentation employed by MHC class I molecules and documents complete divergence of two polymorphic MHC classes at a phylogenetically primitive stage of vertebrate evolution.
AB - We report the isolation and extensive analysis of highly polymorphic MHC class I genes from sharks (Triakis scyllia), which belong to the most primitive vertebrate group with jaws, the cartilaginous fish. Predicted complete peptide-binding domains showed retention of the critical amino acid residues that would interact with antigenic peptide termini and revealed extensive allelic polymorphisms comparable to those of classic human MHC class I molecules. Mosaic structures were apparent in these domains, suggesting recombinational mechanisms to create allelic diversity. The present study demonstrates the establishment of the basic strategy for antigen-presentation employed by MHC class I molecules and documents complete divergence of two polymorphic MHC classes at a phylogenetically primitive stage of vertebrate evolution.
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U2 - 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)80396-9
DO - 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)80396-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 9430223
AN - SCOPUS:0031424262
VL - 7
SP - 777
EP - 790
JO - Immunity
JF - Immunity
SN - 1074-7613
IS - 6
ER -