Nucleotide sequences of the HLA-DRw12 and DRw8 B1 chains from an Australian aborigine.

To gain a more detailed understanding of the molecular structure of the HLA genes in Australian aborigines, the polymorphic first-domain sequences of the DR B alleles were determined in an aborigine who was tissue typed as HLA-DRw8 and a probable DRw12; DRw52; DQw1,7. Both peripheral blood leukocytes and a lymphoblastoid cell line were reactive with the majority of DRw12-specific sera, but also with half of the DRw11-specific sera. With the use of primers specific for the conserved regions flanking the first domain, the polymerase chain reaction technique was used to amplify first-strand synthesis products prepared from the cell line. Two distinct DRB1 sequences were obtained. One was virtually identical to the reported DRw8,Dw8.3 sequence present in an Asian haplotype, differing only by a single silent nucleotide substitution at the third position of codon 36 (A to G). A second DRB allele was closely related to two recently published and nearly identical sequences for DRw12, with amino acid differences at positions 67 and 85 of the first domain. DRB RFLP studies on this cell line using the Taq I restriction enzyme indicated bands previously described for the DRw8 and DRw12 haplotypes.