Piertney S B, Oliver M K
School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UK.
Heredity (Edinb). 2006 Jan;96(1):7-21. doi: 10.1038/sj.hdy.6800724.
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.
主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）已成为一个范例，用以说明自然选择如何作用于维持自然种群中具有适应性重要意义的遗传多样性。在此，我们回顾了非模式物种中MHC研究对我们理解选择如何影响MHC多样性所做的贡献，着重阐述生态和行为学过程如何影响MHC的进化速度和模式，反之，MHC的变异性如何影响个体适合度、种群动态和生存力。我们聚焦于三个主要领域：用于检测对MHC基因选择作用的信息类型；寄生虫介导的选择和性选择对维持MHC多样性的相对贡献；以及可能有助于解决与MHC进化相关一些未决问题的未来研究方向。
