The Evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex in Birds

Hess, Christopher; Edwards, Scott V.

doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0423:teotmh]2.0.co;2

Cited by 147 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

160

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Under strong balancing selection, MHC alleles are preserved and can persist beyond speciation events (Klein et al, 1993). Such trans-species polymorphism seems to be a general feature of MHC evolution and has been demonstrated in many vertebrate systems (Ottová et al, 2005;Cutrera and Lacey, 2007;Kamath and Getz, 2011), although less often in birds (Hess and Edwards, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Our evidence for signatures of recombination between Tympanuchus and Centrocercus alleles suggests that class II loci may have been homogenized by inter-locus gene conversion in their ancestor and retained after species diversification. This appears to be rare empirical evidence for the concerted evolution of duplicated MHC genes, often invoked to explain why avian phylogenies based on MHC usually sort by species rather than by locus (Hess and Edwards, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encode receptor molecules that are responsible for recognition of intracellular and extracellular pathogens (class I and class II genes, respectively) in vertebrates. Given the different roles of class I and II MHC genes, one might expect the strength of selection to differ between these two classes. Different selective pressures may also promote different rates of gene conversion at each class. Despite these predictions, surprisingly few studies have looked at differences between class I and II genes in terms of both selection and gene conversion. Here, we investigated the molecular evolution of MHC class I and II genes in five closely related species of prairie grouse (Centrocercus and Tympanuchus) that possess one class I and two class II loci. We found striking differences in the strength of balancing selection acting on MHC class I versus class II genes. More than half of the putative antigen-binding sites (ABS) of class II were under positive or episodic diversifying selection, compared with only 10% at class I. We also found that gene conversion had a stronger role in shaping the evolution of MHC class II than class I. Overall, the combination of strong positive (balancing) selection and frequent gene conversion has maintained higher diversity of MHC class II than class I in prairie grouse. This is one of the first studies clearly demonstrating that macroevolutionary mechanisms can act differently on genes involved in the immune response against intracellular and extracellular pathogens.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, this pattern could also suggest that concerted evolution might be more common among chicken gene families than in other groups. For example, concerted evolution among major histocompatibility complex (MHC) paralogs in birds is thought to occur more frequently, and over a shorter time scale, than in mammals (Hess and Edwards, 2002), Figure 5 Depth of paralogs on the lineage leading to Gallus gallus that evolved after the divergence between Gallus and Homo. Pivotal events during the evolution of this lineage are noted on the figure.…”

Section: Results: Dynamics Of Chicken-specific Gene Duplicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenomic Approach to the Evolutionary Dynamics of Gene Duplication in Birds

Organ

Rasmussen

Baldwin

et al. 2010

Evolution After Gene Duplication

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…There are similarities across these model systems in MHC structure, in that the class I and class II genes are linked together in a single gene complex in each case (Hughes and Yeager, 1998;Hess and Edwards, 2002). There are also, however, some striking differences.…”

Section: The Structure and Function Of The Mhcmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary ecology of the major histocompatibility complex

2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has become a paradigm for how selection can act to maintain adaptively important genetic diversity in natural populations. Here, we review the contribution of studies on the MHC in non-model species to our understanding of how selection affects MHC diversity, emphasising how ecological and ethological processes influence the tempo and mode of evolution at the MHC, and conversely, how variability at the MHC affects individual fitness, population dynamics and viability. We focus on three main areas: the types of information that have been used to detect the action of selection on MHC genes; the relative contributions of parasite-mediated and sexual selection on the maintenance of MHC diversity; and possible future lines of research that may help resolve some of the unanswered issues associated with MHC evolution.

show abstract

The Evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex in Birds

Cited by 147 publications

References 45 publications

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

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

Phylogenomic Approach to the Evolutionary Dynamics of Gene Duplication in Birds

The evolutionary ecology of the major histocompatibility complex

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About