Species-Specific Class I Gene Expansions Formed the Telomeric 1 Mb of the Mouse Major Histocompatibility Complex

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Abstract
We have determined the complete sequence of 951,695 bp from the class I region ofH2,the mouse major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) from strain 129/Sv (haplotypebc). The sequence contains 26 genes. The sequence spans from the last 50 kb of theH2-Tregion, including 2 class I genes and 3 class I pesudogenes, and includes theH2-Mregion up toGabbr1.A 500-kb stretch of theH2-Mregion contains 9 class I genes and 4 pseudogenes, which fall into two subfamilies,M1andM10, distinct from other mouse class I genes. ThisM1/M10class I gene-cluster is separated from the centromericH2-Tand the telomericH2-M4, -5 and-6class I genes by “nonclass I genes”. Comparison with the corresponding 853-kb region of the humanMhc,which includes theHLA-Aregion, shows a mosaic of conserved regions of orthologous nonclass I genes separated by regions of species-specific expansion of paralogousMhcclass I genes. The analysis of this mosaic structure illuminates the dynamic evolution of theMhcclass I region among mammals and provides evidence for the framework hypothesis.[Supplemental material is available online atwww.genome.org. The sequence data from this study have been submitted to GenBank under accession nos.AC005413,AC005665,AF532111–AF532117. A preliminary draft sequence was earlier submitted asAC002615and replaced this year by NT002615.]