Diogo Meyer, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Steven J Mack, Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland, Oakland, California, USA
Published online: July 2008
DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0006133.pub2
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) contains genes that code for glycoproteins that play key roles in the immune response. Several features of MHC gene polymorphism indicate that diversifying natural selection has acted upon these genes. Different models of diversifying selection may explain the observed variation.
Keywords: major histocompatibility complex; human leukocyte antigen; polymorphism; balancing selection
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| Further Reading | |
| book Frank SA (2002) Immunology and Evolution of Infectious Disease. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. | |
| book Hansen JA (ed.) (2007) Immunobiology of the Human MHC. Proceedings of the 13th International Histocompatibility Workshop and Conference, Seattle: IHEG Press. | |
| other Kasahara M (ed.) (2000) Major Histocompatibility Complex; Evolution, Structure, and Function. Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on MHC Evolution, Japan, Hayama. | |
| book Marsh SGE, Parham P and Barber LD (2000) The HLA FactsBook. San Diego: Academic Press. | |
| Web Links | |
| ePath dbMHC. Anthropology populations http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gv/mhc/ihwg.cgi?ID=9&cmd=PRJOV | |
| ePath HLA-A (major histocompatibility complex, class I, A); LocusID: 3105. Entrez Gene: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=summary&list_uids=3105 | |
| ePath HLA-A (major histocompatibility complex, class I, A); MIM number: 142800. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=142800 | |
| ePath HLA-B (major histocompatibility complex, class I, B); LocusID: 3106. Entrez Gene: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=summary&list_uids=3106 | |
| ePath HLA-B (major histocompatibility complex, class I, B); MIM number: 142830. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=142830 | |
| ePath HLA-DRB1 (major histocompatibility complex, class II, DR beta 1); LocusID: 3123. Entrez Gene: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=summary&list_uids=3123 | |
| ePath HLA-DRB1 (major histocompatibility complex, class II, DR beta 1); MIM number: 142857. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=142857 | |
| ePath HLA-DQB1 (major histocompatibility complex, class II, DQ ); LocusID: 3119. Entrez Gene: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=summary&list_uids=3119 | |
| ePath HLA-DQB1 (major histocompatibility complex, class II, DQ ); MIM number: 604305. OMIM: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=604305 | |
| ePath ImMunoGeneTics Database. A collection of high-quality integrated databases specializing in immunoglobulins, T-cell receptors and the MHC of all vertebrate species. http://www.ebi.ac.uk/imgt/. | |
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