Extensive sharing of MHC class II alleles between rhesus and cynomolgus macaques

Abstract

In contrast to rhesus monkeys, substantial knowledge on cynomolgus monkey major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II haplotypes is lacking. Therefore, 17 animals, including one pedigreed family, were thoroughly characterized for polymorphic Mhc class II region genes as well as their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Different cynomolgus macaque populations appear to exhibit unique mtDNA profiles reflecting their geographic origin. Within the present panel, 10 Mafa-DPB1, 14 Mafa-DQA1, 12 Mafa-DQB1, and 35 Mafa-DRB exon 2 sequences were identified. All of these alleles cluster into lineages that were previously described for rhesus macaques. Moreover, about half of the Mafa-DPB1, Mafa-DQA1, and Mafa-DQB1 alleles and one third of the Mafa-DRB exon 2 sequences are identical to rhesus macaque orthologues. Such a high level of Mhc class II allele sharing has not been reported for primate species. Pedigree analysis allowed the characterization of nine distinct Mafa class II haplotypes, and seven additional ones could be deduced. Two of these haplotypes harbor a duplication of the Mafa-DQB1 locus. Despite extensive allele sharing, rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys do not appear to possess identical Mhc class II haplotypes, thus illustrating that new haplotypes were generated after speciation by recombination-like processes.

Contrasting evolutionary histories of MHC class I and class II loci in grouse—effects of selection and gene conversion

“…Sharing of MHC alleles between species from the same genus has been found in several recently diverged taxonomic groups, such as Xenopus frogs (Bos and Waldman, 2006), Spheniscus penguins (Bollmer et al, 2007;Kikkawa et al, 2009), equids (Kamath and Getz, 2011) and primates (Doxiadis et al, 2006). The divergence between all three Tympanuchus species likely occurred within the last 0.5-2 million years, and in areas of geographic overlap, hybridisation has been observed between T. cupido and two other Tympanuchus grouse (Galla and Johnson, 2015).…”

Hybridization and Stratification of Nuclear Genetic Variation in Macaca mulatta and M. fascicularis

“…Investigations by Andrade et al (2004), Doxiadis et al (2003Doxiadis et al ( , 2006, Ferguson et al (2007), Hernandez et al (2007), Smith (1998, 2004), Kanthaswamy et al (2006), Malhi et al (2007), Morin et al (1997), Penedo et al (2005), Satkoski et al (2007), and Viray et al (2001) have all characterized the genetic composition of rhesus macaque populations in the wild and in captivity. Most of these studies have reported discrete genetic differences between Indian and Chinese rhesus macaques and much greater genetic heterogeneity and substructuring in the latter than in the former.…”

Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVmac239 Infection of Major Histocompatibility Complex-Identical Cynomolgus Macaques from Mauritius

“…In humans, the genetics of the MHC are well defined, with only a single polymorphic HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C locus per chromosome. In contrast, MHC haplotypes in macaques contain a variable number of expressed polymorphic class I (7,9,21,29,39,40) and class II (10,12) loci.…”