Major histocompatibility complex variation and evolution at a single, expressed DQA locus in two genera of elephants

Archie, Elizabeth A.; Henry, Tammy; Maldonado, Jesús E.; Moss, Cynthia J.; Poole, Joyce H.; Pearson, Virginia R.; Murray, Suzan; Alberts, Susan C.; Fleischer, Robert C.

doi:10.1007/s00251-009-0413-8

Cited by 22 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…For example, presence of five subclasses of IgG has been demonstrated in African elephant ( Loxodonta africana ) [59], [60]. Further, the genomic organization of the IgH, Igκ, and Igλ loci of the African elephant has been identified [61], [62]. Immunoreactivity analysis demonstrated the role for complement and antibodies during infections with African horse sickness [63], [64] Bluetongue [63] and Mycoplasmosis [65].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serodiagnosis of Tuberculosis in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Southern India: A Latent Class Analysis

et al. 2012

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Background Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a causative agent of chronic tuberculosis disease, is widespread among some animal species too. There is paucity of information on the distribution, prevalence and true disease status of tuberculosis in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). The aim of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of serological tests to diagnose M. tuberculosis infection in captive elephants in southern India while simultaneously estimating sero-prevalence.Methodology/Principal FindingsHealth assessment of 600 elephants was carried out and their sera screened with a commercially available rapid serum test. Trunk wash culture of select rapid serum test positive animals yielded no animal positive for M. tuberculosis isolation. Under Indian field conditions where the true disease status is unknown, we used a latent class model to estimate the diagnostic characteristics of an existing (rapid serum test) and new (four in-house ELISA) tests. One hundred and seventy nine sera were randomly selected for screening in the five tests. Diagnostic sensitivities of the four ELISAs were 91.3–97.6% (95% Credible Interval (CI): 74.8–99.9) and diagnostic specificity were 89.6–98.5% (95% CI: 79.4–99.9) based on the model we assumed. We estimate that 53.6% (95% CI: 44.6–62.8) of the samples tested were free from infection with M. tuberculosis and 15.9% (97.5% CI: 9.8 - to 24.0) tested positive on all five tests.Conclusions/SignificanceOur results provide evidence for high prevalence of asymptomatic M. tuberculosis infection in Asian elephants in a captive Indian setting. Further validation of these tests would be important in formulating area-specific effective surveillance and control measures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serodiagnosis of Tuberculosis in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Southern India: A Latent Class Analysis

et al. 2012

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“…Furthermore, the total level of DQA variation (including two loci) of the black muntjac was still lower (some of which contained only one DQA) when compared to that of other mammalian species and even some endangered animals. For example, researchers have characterized 50DQA alleles in European brown hare, 18 in rabbit (Surridge et al, 2008;Goüy et al, 2009), six in African elephants, four in Asian elephants (Archie et al, 2010), and 11 in the panda (7 DQA1 and 4 DQA2) (Chen et al, 2010). The relatively low level of MHC polymorphism is usually attributed to either a consequence of reduced selection pressure or bottleneck effects (Goüy et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insight into gene evolution within Cervidae and Bovidae through genetic variation in MHC-DQA in the black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons)

Tong

Li²,

Luo³

2012

Genet. Mol. Res.

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ABSTRACT. The critical role that the major histocompatibility complex plays in the immune recognition of parasites and pathogens makes its evolutionary dynamics exceptionally relevant to ecology, population biology, and conservation studies. The black muntjac is a rare deer endemic to a small mountainous region in eastern China. We found that this species has two DQA loci through cDNA expression and sequence variation analysis. The level of variation at both DQA loci was found to be extremely low (three alleles for DQA1 and four alleles for DQA2), possibly because of past bottlenecks and the species' relatively solitary behavior pattern. The ratio of d N /d S in the putative peptide binding region of the DQA2 locus (13.36, P = 0.012) was significantly larger than one but not that of DQA1 (0.94, P = 0.95), suggesting strong positive selection at the DQA2 but not at the DQA1 locus. This difference might reflect different sets of evolutionary selection pressures acting on the two loci. The phylogenetic tree showed that DQA1 alleles from two species of Cervidae and two of Bovidae grouped together, as did the DQA2 alleles. However, different genes from the four species were located in separate branches. These results lead us to suggest that these DQA alleles are derived from primordial DQA genes ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 11 (3): 2888-2898 (2012) Genetic variation of MHC-DQA in black muntjac 2889 from a common ancestor and are maintained in Cervidae and Bovidae since their divergence around 25.5-27.8 million years ago.

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“…Functional MHC genes show signs of positive selection on antigen binding sites (e.g. Axtner and Sommer 2007;Hauswaldt et al 2007;Archie et al 2010). We analysed the…”

Section: Positive Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of MHC class II DRB genes in the northern tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri)

2010

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Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) mainly code for proteins of the immune system of jawed vertebrates. In particular, MHC class I and II cell surface proteins are crucial for the self/non-self discrimination of the adaptive immune system and are the most polymorphic genes in vertebrates. Positive selection, gene duplications and pseudogenes shape the face of the MHC and reflect a highly dynamic evolution. Here, we present for the first time data of the highly polymorphic MHC class II DRB exon 2 of a representative of the mammalian order scandentia, the northern tree shrew Tupaia belangeri. We found up to eight different alleles per individual and determined haplotype constitution by intensively studying their inheritance. The alleles were assigned to four putative loci, all of which were polymorphic. Only the most polymorphic locus was subject to positive selection within the antigen binding sites and only alleles of this locus were transcribed.

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Major histocompatibility complex variation and evolution at a single, expressed DQA locus in two genera of elephants

Cited by 22 publications

References 49 publications

Serodiagnosis of Tuberculosis in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Southern India: A Latent Class Analysis

Serodiagnosis of Tuberculosis in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Southern India: A Latent Class Analysis

Insight into gene evolution within Cervidae and Bovidae through genetic variation in MHC-DQA in the black muntjac (Muntiacus crinifrons)

Characterisation of MHC class II DRB genes in the northern tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri)

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