Organization and evolution of the class I gene family in the major histocompatibility complex of the C57BL/10 mouse

Abstract
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encodes several classes of protein vital to the regulation of the immune response. Twenty-six class I genes that map to this region in the C57BL/10 mouse were isolated and these were linked into 3 gene clusters. The number of genes differs from the number found in the BALB/c strain and comparison of the organization of the class I genes in these 2 strains shows conserved regions of polymorphic genes which probably result from deletions, insertions and translocations within the MHC.