Sequence Diversity and Differences at the Highly Duplicated MHC-I Gene Reflect Viral Susceptibility in Sympatric Pinniped Species.

ABSTRACT: Differences in disease susceptibility among species can result from rapid host-pathogen coevolution and differences in host species ecology that affect the strength and direction of natural selection. Among 2 sympatric pinniped species that differ in sociality and putative disease exposure, we investigate observed differences in susceptibility through an analysis of a highly variable, duplicated gene family involved in the vertebrate immune response. Using high-throughput amplicon sequencing, we characterize diversity at the 2 exons that encode the peptide binding region of the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) gene in harbor (N = 60) and gray (N = 90) seal populations from the Northwest Atlantic. Across species, we identified 106 full-length exon 2 and 103 exon 3 sequence v

SUBMITTER: Gigliotti AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9584807 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature