Selection, diversity and evolutionary patterns of the MHC class II DAB in free-ranging Neotropical marsupials

Meyer-Lucht, Yvonne; Otten, Celine; Püttker, Thomas; Sommer, Simone

doi:10.1186/1471-2156-9-39

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Three PSS were situated outside the human ABS and some of the human ABS were not identified as PSS in Noal-DRB. Comparable results have been reported from other species (Kundu and Faulkes, 2004;Schwensow et al, 2007;Babik et al, 2008;Meyer-Lucht et al, 2008). In general, high congruence of PSS with human ABS is assumed to demonstrate homologous functionality of the molecule.…”

Section: Evidence For Historical Selectionmentioning

confidence: 53%

MHC class II DRB diversity, selection pattern and population structure in a neotropical bat species, Noctilio albiventris

et al. 2011

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Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) have a crucial role in the immune response of vertebrates, alter the individual odour and are involved in shaping mating preferences. Pathogen-mediated selection, sexual selection and maternal-fetal interactions have been proposed as the main drivers of frequently observed high levels of polymorphism in functionally important parts of the MHC. Bats constitute the second largest mammalian order and have recently emerged as important vectors of infectious diseases. In addition, Chiroptera are interesting study subjects in evolutionary ecology in the context of olfactory communication, mate choice and associated fitness benefits. Thus, it is surprising that they belong to the least studied mammalian taxa in terms of their MHC diversity. In this study, we investigated the variability in the functionally important MHC class II gene DRB, evidence for selection and population structure in the group-living lesser bulldog bat, Noctilio albiventris, in Panama. We found a single expressed, polymorphic Noal-DRB gene. The substitution pattern of the nucleotide sequences of the 18 detected alleles provided evidence for positive selection acting above the evolutionary history of the species in shaping MHC diversity. Roosting colonies were not genetically differentiated but females showed lower levels of heterozygosity than males, which might be a sign that the sexes differ in the selection pressures acting on the MHC. This study provides the prerequisites for further investigations of the role of the individual MHC constitution in parasite resistance, olfactory communication and mate choice in N. albiventris and other bats.

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Section: Evidence For Historical Selectionmentioning

confidence: 53%

MHC class II DRB diversity, selection pattern and population structure in a neotropical bat species, Noctilio albiventris

et al. 2011

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“…Such low levels of class II diversity are rarely observed in marsupials (Table 3), even in long-term isolated island populations such as the Kangaroo Island tammar wallaby (Cheng et al 2009) or bottlenecked populations such as the introduced New Zealand brushtail possum (Holland et al 2008a, b), both of which show high class II diversity. In the grey slender mouse opossum (Marmosops incanus), which is endemic to South America, despite the small number of alleles found at DAB loci, high sequence divergence is seen between the alleles (Meyer-Lucht et al 2008). The low class II diversity in the devil is likely attributed to both genetic drift on the island population plus founder effects after population bottlenecks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Low MHC class II diversity in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)

et al. 2012

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The largest remaining carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), is currently under threat of extinction due to a fatal contagious cancer-devil facial tumour disease. Low major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I diversity is believed to have contributed to the transmission of the tumour allograft through devil populations. Here, we report low MHC class II variability in this species, with DA β chain genes (Saha-DAB1, 2 and 3) exhibiting very limited diversity and the sole α chain gene (Saha-DAA) monomorphic. Three, six and three alleles were found at Saha-DAB1, 2 and 3, respectively, with a predominant allele found at each locus. Heterozygosity at these three loci is low in the eastern population and modestly higher in northwestern individuals. The results are indicative of a selective sweep likely due to an infectious disease resulting in the fixation of selectively favoured alleles and depletion of genetic diversity at devil class II loci. Several attempts were made to isolate the other marsupial classical class II gene family, namely, DB, resulting in only one DBB pseudogene being found. These findings further support the view that this species has a compromised capacity to respond to pathogen evolution, emerging infectious diseases and environmental changes.

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“…On the other hand, we also recorded identical class I and class II allelic variants shared between Centrocercus and Tympanuchus. MHC allele sharing across genera has been observed rarely and is usually attributed to trans-species polymorphism resulting from retention of ancestral allelic variants (Go et al, 2002;Meyer-Lucht et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting evolutionary histories of MHC class I and class II loci in grouse—effects of selection and gene conversion

et al. 2016

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Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encode receptor molecules that are responsible for recognition of intracellular and extracellular pathogens (class I and class II genes, respectively) in vertebrates. Given the different roles of class I and II MHC genes, one might expect the strength of selection to differ between these two classes. Different selective pressures may also promote different rates of gene conversion at each class. Despite these predictions, surprisingly few studies have looked at differences between class I and II genes in terms of both selection and gene conversion. Here, we investigated the molecular evolution of MHC class I and II genes in five closely related species of prairie grouse (Centrocercus and Tympanuchus) that possess one class I and two class II loci. We found striking differences in the strength of balancing selection acting on MHC class I versus class II genes. More than half of the putative antigen-binding sites (ABS) of class II were under positive or episodic diversifying selection, compared with only 10% at class I. We also found that gene conversion had a stronger role in shaping the evolution of MHC class II than class I. Overall, the combination of strong positive (balancing) selection and frequent gene conversion has maintained higher diversity of MHC class II than class I in prairie grouse. This is one of the first studies clearly demonstrating that macroevolutionary mechanisms can act differently on genes involved in the immune response against intracellular and extracellular pathogens.

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Selection, diversity and evolutionary patterns of the MHC class II DAB in free-ranging Neotropical marsupials

Cited by 30 publications

References 97 publications

MHC class II DRB diversity, selection pattern and population structure in a neotropical bat species, Noctilio albiventris

MHC class II DRB diversity, selection pattern and population structure in a neotropical bat species, Noctilio albiventris

Low MHC class II diversity in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)

Contrasting evolutionary histories of MHC class I and class II loci in grouse—effects of selection and gene conversion

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