Coevolution between MHC Class I and Antigen-Processing Genes in Salamanders.

ABSTRACT: Proteins encoded by antigen-processing genes (APGs) provide major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I (MHC-I) with antigenic peptides. In mammals, polymorphic multigenic MHC-I family is served by monomorphic APGs, whereas in certain nonmammalian species both MHC-I and APGs are polymorphic and coevolve within stable haplotypes. Coevolution was suggested as an ancestral gnathostome feature, presumably enabling only a single highly expressed classical MHC-I gene. In this view coevolution, while optimizing some aspects of adaptive immunity, would also limit its flexibility by preventing the expansion of classical MHC-I into a multigene family. However, some nonmammalian taxa, such as salamanders, have multiple highly expressed MHC-I genes, suggesting either that coevolution is relaxed or

SUBMITTER: Palomar G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8557411 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature