Variance analysis of immunoglobulin alleles in natural populations of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus): the extensive interallelic divergence at the b locus could be the outcome of overdominance-type selection.

Loo, W. van der

doi:10.1093/genetics/135.1.171

Cited by 20 publications

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“…Although confirmed as a single gene locus by direct genome analysis (AKIMENKO, HEID- MANN and ROUGEON 1984;MATTHIJSSENS et al 1985), differences between K I alleles can be extensive (up to 40% amino acid substitutions) [REISFELD, DRAY and NISONOFF (1965), reviewed in MACE (1987)l. At the bus-locus (KELUS and lection (VAN DER LOO 1992).…”

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Patterns of interallelic divergence at the rabbit b-locus of the immunoglobulin light chain constant region are in agreement with population genetical evidence for overdominant selection.

Loo

Verdoodt

1992

Genetics

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Population studies at the b-locus of the "constant" regions of the rabbit immunoglobulin kappa 1 light chain (c kappa 1) revealed patterns of gene diversity resembling those that mark the peculiar nature of the major histocompatibility complex, such as large number of alleles, high heterozygosity levels, consistent excess of heterozygous individuals and long allele coalescence times. This paper documents the evolutionary patterns at the b-locus as inferred from DNA sequence comparisons. Among alleles, synonymous substitutions outnumbered expectations for neutral alleles by an order of magnitude. They were distributed randomly throughout the c kappa 1 coding region while interallelic amino acid differences did cluster into segments overlapping with the regions exposed to the solvent. Within these regions, acceptance rates of mutation at amino acid replacement sites were even higher than those at synonymous sites (dr/ds = 1.6-3.0), while in the intervals between these regions the opposite was found (dr/ds approximately 0.3). Under the assumption that allelic variation is adaptive at the molecular surface, the divergence patterns at the b-locus are therefore very similar to those reported for the major histocompatibility complex. An analysis at the quasi silent bas-locus (c kappa 2), which is linked to the b-locus, and comparisons among genes of the "variable" region of the kappa 1 light chains (v kappa 1), revealed patterns of divergence which differed markedly from those observed at the c kappa 1 constant regions. It is suggested that allelic variability at immunoglobulin constant regions can be due to mechanisms similar to those enhancing diversity at histocompatibility loci.

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confidence: 99%