Simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 infection of major histocompatibility complex-identical cynomolgus macaques from Mauritius.

ABSTRACT: Nonhuman primates are widely used to study correlates of protective immunity in AIDS research. Successful cellular immune responses have been difficult to identify because heterogeneity within macaque major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes results in quantitative and qualitative differences in immune responses. Here we use microsatellite analysis to show that simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-susceptible cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius have extremely simple MHC genetics, with six common haplotypes accounting for two-thirds of the MHC haplotypes in feral animals. Remarkably, 39% of Mauritian cynomolgus macaques carry at least one complete copy of the most frequent MHC haplotype, and 8% of these animals are homozygous. In stark cont

SUBMITTER: Wiseman RW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1797269 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature