The complete nucleotide sequence of the I-Eαdimmune response gene

Abstract
We have isolated and sequenced the complete muring I-Ea immune response gene of the H-2a haplotype. The I-Ea gene consists of 5300 basepairs and is organized into five or possibly six exons that correspond to different domains of the a chain. The amino acid sequence deduced from the I-Ea gene shows 75% homology to its human counterpart, the HLA-DR a chain. The absence of I-E antigen in H-2a mice is due to lack of Ea chain synthesis. We show here that this defect is caused by a deletion in the 5' end of the I-Eabgene.