Title
Sequencing and comparative analysis of the gorilla MHC genomic sequence.
Abstract
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes play a critical role in vertebrate immune response and because the MHC is linked to a significant number of auto-immune and other diseases it is of great medical interest. Here we describe the clone-based sequencing and subsequent annotation of the MHC region of the gorilla genome. Because the MHC is subject to extensive variation, both structural and sequence-wise, it is not readily amenable to study in whole genome shotgun sequence such as the recently published gorilla genome. The variation of the MHC also makes it of evolutionary interest and therefore we analyse the sequence in the context of human and chimpanzee. In our comparisons with human and re-annotated chimpanzee MHC sequence we find that gorilla has a trimodular RCCX cluster, versus the reference human bimodular cluster, and additional copies of Class I (pseudo) genes between Gogo-K and Gogo-A (the orthologues of HLA-K and -A). We also find that Gogo-H (and Patr-H) is coding versus the HLA-H pseudogene and, conversely, there is a Gogo-DQB2 pseudogene versus the HLA-DQB2 coding gene. Our analysis, which is freely available through the VEGA genome browser, provides the research community with a comprehensive dataset for comparative and evolutionary research of the MHC.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1093/database/bat011
DATABASE-THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL DATABASES AND CURATION
Keywords
Field
DocType
genome,sequence analysis,major histocompatibility complex,dna
Genome,Pseudogene,Shotgun sequencing,Gene,Biology,Genome browser,Major histocompatibility complex,DNA sequencing,Bioinformatics,Human leukocyte antigen
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
2013
1758-0463
1
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.45
2
14