A Distinctive Cytoplasmic Tail Contributes to Low Surface Expression and Intracellular Retention of the Patr-AL MHC Class I Molecule.

ABSTRACT: Chimpanzees have orthologs of the six fixed, functional human MHC class I genes. But, in addition, the chimpanzee has a seventh functional gene, Patr-AL, which is not polymorphic but contributes substantially to population diversity by its presence on only 50% of MHC haplotypes. The ancestral AL gene emerged long before the separation of human and chimpanzee ancestors and then subsequently and specifically lost function during human evolution, but was maintained in chimpanzees. Patr-AL is an alloantigen that participates in negative and positive selection of the T cell repertoire. The three-dimensional structure and the peptide-binding repertoire of Patr-AL and HLA-A*02 are surprisingly similar. In contrast, the expression of these two molecules is very different, as shown using specific m

SUBMITTER: Goyos A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4592827 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature