Evans D T, Piekarczyk M S, Cadavid L, Hinshaw V S, Watkins D I
University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, and Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 1220 Capitol Ct., Madison, WI 53715, USA.
Immunogenetics. 1998;47(3):206-11. doi: 10.1007/s002510050349.
The products of the highly polymorphic and variable major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I loci play a crucial role in host defenses against infectious disease. While similar alleles have been found in closely related species, sharing of a functional MHC class I allele between two species has never been reported. Here we show that an identical functional MHC class I molecule is present in two different primate species with an approximate divergence time of 0.7 million years. Lymphocytes from the red-crested tamarin (Saguinus geoffroyi) expressed an MHC class I allele (Sage-G01) that was identical in coding sequence to an MHC class I allele (Saoe-G08) found in the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus). Furthermore, influenza virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) generated in the cotton-top tamarin killed lymphocytes expressing the influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) from the red-crested tamarin. Since the influenza virus NP epitope is bound by Saoe-G*08 in the cotton-top tamarin, it is likely that this molecule is functional in both species. These data provide the first evidence that functional MHC class I molecules can be maintained entirely intact in two separate species.
高度多态且可变的主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）I类基因座的产物在宿主抵御传染病的防御中起着关键作用。虽然在亲缘关系密切的物种中发现了相似的等位基因，但从未报道过两个物种之间共享功能性MHC I类等位基因。在此，我们表明，在两个不同的灵长类物种中存在相同的功能性MHC I类分子，它们的分化时间约为70万年。红顶狨猴（Saguinus geoffroyi）的淋巴细胞表达了一个MHC I类等位基因（Sage-G01），其编码序列与在棉顶狨猴（Saguinus oedipus）中发现的一个MHC I类等位基因（Saoe-G08）相同。此外，在棉顶狨猴中产生的流感病毒特异性细胞毒性T淋巴细胞（CTL）杀死了表达来自红顶狨猴的流感病毒核蛋白（NP）的淋巴细胞。由于流感病毒NP表位在棉顶狨猴中与Saoe-G*08结合，该分子很可能在两个物种中都具有功能。这些数据提供了首个证据，证明功能性MHC I类分子可以在两个不同物种中完全完整地保留下来。
