The Major Histocompatibility Complex in Bovines: A Review

Abstract

Productivity in dairy cattle and buffaloes depends on the genetic factors governing the production of milk and milk constituents as well as genetic factors controlling disease resistance or susceptibility. The immune system is the adaptive defense system that has evolved in vertebrates to protect them from invading pathogens and also carcinomas. It is remarkable in the sense that it is able to generate an enormous variety of cells and biomolecules which interact with each other in numerous ways to form a complex network that helps to recognize, counteract, and eliminate the apparently limitless number of foreign invading pathogens/molecules. The major histocompatibility complex which is found to occur in all mammalian species plays a central role in the development of the immune system. It is an important candidate gene involved in susceptibility/resistance to various diseases. It is associated with intercellular recognition and with self/nonself discrimination. It plays major role in determining whether transplanted tissue will be accepted as self or rejected as foreign.

Association of gene BoLA DRB3.2 with production traits in a dairy herd of Antioquia, Colombia

“…El gen BoLA DRB3 ha sido asociado con resistencia y susceptibilidad a enfermedades infecciosas y su función principal es la expresión de proteínas presentadoras de antígeno (7). Sin embargo, también muestra estar asociado con características productivas.…”

“…Gene BoLA DRB3 has been associated to resistance and susceptibility to infectious diseases and its main function is the expression of antigen-presenting proteins (7). However, it is also associated to productive traits.…”

“…Gene BoLA DRB3, is usually expressed by cells in the immune system such as macrophages dendritic cells or B lymphocytes, which process the antigen and then present it to the helper T lymphocytes to unleash the immune response against infectious pathogens (7). Their elevated level of expression and high polymorphism makes them potential molecular markers for Molecular Marker-assisted selection procedures (MAS).…”

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“…Previously it was established that polymorphism in the BoLA-DRB3 exon 2 correlates with resistance to persistent lymphocytosis caused by bovine leukemia virus (Lewin and Bernoco, 1986;Xu et al, 1993;Zanotti et al, 1996;Takeshima and Aida, 2006;Behl et al, 2012). Genetic mechanisms of resistance and susceptibility to leukemia in Ayrshire and Black Pied cattle breeds were determined by allelic distribution of the BoLA-DRB3 gene.…”

Analysis of DRB3 gene polymorphisms in Jafarabadi, Mediterranean, and Murrah buffaloes from Brazil

“…This allelic diversity can also be exploited to search for associations between genes and resistance/susceptibility to disease. The DRB3 gene is an MHC class II gene that has a high degree of polymorphism with more than 100 alleles described in cattle; this variation contributes to differences among individuals in immune responsiveness and disease resistance (Behl et al, 2012), such as to mastitis (Firouzamandi et al, 2010), bovine leukemia virus (Juliarena et al, 2008), dermatophilosis (Maillard et al, 2003), neospirosis (Schwab et al, 2009), bovine neonatal pancytopenia (Ballingall et al, 2011), and tick (Boophilus microplus) resistance (Martinez et al, 2006). Additionally, Rupp et al (2007) also linked DRB3 alleles to variations in milk, fat, and protein yields in cattle.…”