1. A genome-wide survey of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes and their paralogues in zebrafish
- Author
-
Jennifer G. Sambrook, Felipe Figueroa, and Stephan Beck
- Subjects
DNA, Complementary ,lcsh:QH426-470 ,Genetic Linkage ,lcsh:Biotechnology ,Molecular Sequence Data ,chemical and pharmacologic phenomena ,Major histocompatibility complex ,Genome ,Major Histocompatibility Complex ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Genetic linkage ,lcsh:TP248.13-248.65 ,Chromosome 19 ,Gene Duplication ,Genetics ,Animals ,Cluster Analysis ,Humans ,Zebrafish ,Gene ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,Models, Statistical ,Polymorphism, Genetic ,biology ,Genome, Human ,Chromosome Mapping ,DNA ,Genomics ,biology.organism_classification ,lcsh:Genetics ,Haplotypes ,Peptide transport ,biology.protein ,Human genome ,Software ,030215 immunology ,Biotechnology ,Research Article - Abstract
BackgroundThe genomic organisation of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) varies greatly between different vertebrates. In mammals, the classical MHC consists of a large number of linked genes (e.g. greater than 200 in humans) with predominantly immune function. In some birds, it consists of only a small number of linked MHC core genes (e.g. smaller than 20 in chickens) forming a minimal essential MHC and, in fish, the MHC consists of a so far unknown number of genes including non-linked MHC core genes. Here we report a survey of MHC genes and their paralogues in the zebrafish genome.ResultsUsing sequence similarity searches against the zebrafish draft genome assembly (Zv4, September 2004), 149 putative MHC gene loci and their paralogues have been identified. Of these, 41 map to chromosome 19 while the remaining loci are spread across essentially all chromosomes. Despite the fragmentation, a set of MHC core genes involved in peptide transport, loading and presentation are still found in a single linkage group.ConclusionThe results extend the linkage information of MHC core genes on zebrafish chromosome 19 and show the distribution of the remaining MHC genes and their paralogues to be genome-wide. Although based on a draft genome assembly, this survey demonstrates an essentially fragmented MHC in zebrafish.
- Published
- 2005