TY - JOUR
T1 - Differences in MHC-B diversity and KIR epitopes in two populations of wild chimpanzees
AU - Maibach, Vincent
AU - Langergraber, Kevin
AU - Leendertz, Fabian H.
AU - Wittig, Roman M.
AU - Vigilant, Linda
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Anette Nicklisch for DNA extraction from fecal samples and Lauren Christine White for screening of all fecal samples with the Fragment Analyzer System. We are particularly thankful to Antje Weihmann and Barbara Schellbach and the entire sequencing group. We kindly thank Christophe Boesch and all people from the field who were involved in sample collection. We are grateful to the Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research of Côte d’Ivoire and the Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Reserves for the permission to conduct research at the Taï Chimpanzee Project.
Funding Information:
We thank Anette Nicklisch for DNA extraction from fecal samples and Lauren Christine White for screening of all fecal samples with the Fragment Analyzer System. We are particularly thankful to Antje Weihmann and Barbara Schellbach and the entire sequencing group. We kindly thank Christophe Boesch and all people from the field who were involved in sample collection. We are grateful to the Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research of C?te d?Ivoire and the Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Reserves for the permission to conduct research at the Ta? Chimpanzee Project.
Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society. This study received financial support by the Max Planck Society.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes play a critical role within the immune system, both by the presentation of antigens from intracellular pathogens to immunocompetent cells and by the interaction with killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) on natural killer cells (NK cells). Genes of the MHC are highly diverse, and MHC variation can have effects on the immune functionality of individuals; hence, comparisons of MHC diversity among closely related phylogenetic taxa may give insight into the factors responsible for the shaping of its diversity. The four geographically separated chimpanzee subspecies differ in their overall genetic diversity, have different population histories, and are confronted with different pathogens in their natural habitat, all of which may affect MHC class I DNA sequence diversity. Here, we compare the MHC-B exon two DNA sequence diversity from 24 wild western and 46 wild eastern chimpanzees using necropsy and noninvasively collected fecal samples, respectively. We found a higher MHC-B exon two nucleotide diversity, in our western than eastern chimpanzees. The inclusion of previously published MHC-B exon two data from other western and eastern chimpanzees supported this finding. In addition, our results confirm and extend the finding of a very low C1 epitope frequency at eastern chimpanzee MHC-B molecules, which likely affects the ability of these molecules to interact with NK cells. While the understanding of the differing pathogen environments encountered by disparate populations of a species is a challenging endeavor, these findings highlight the potential for these pathogens to selectively shape immune system variation.
AB - The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes play a critical role within the immune system, both by the presentation of antigens from intracellular pathogens to immunocompetent cells and by the interaction with killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) on natural killer cells (NK cells). Genes of the MHC are highly diverse, and MHC variation can have effects on the immune functionality of individuals; hence, comparisons of MHC diversity among closely related phylogenetic taxa may give insight into the factors responsible for the shaping of its diversity. The four geographically separated chimpanzee subspecies differ in their overall genetic diversity, have different population histories, and are confronted with different pathogens in their natural habitat, all of which may affect MHC class I DNA sequence diversity. Here, we compare the MHC-B exon two DNA sequence diversity from 24 wild western and 46 wild eastern chimpanzees using necropsy and noninvasively collected fecal samples, respectively. We found a higher MHC-B exon two nucleotide diversity, in our western than eastern chimpanzees. The inclusion of previously published MHC-B exon two data from other western and eastern chimpanzees supported this finding. In addition, our results confirm and extend the finding of a very low C1 epitope frequency at eastern chimpanzee MHC-B molecules, which likely affects the ability of these molecules to interact with NK cells. While the understanding of the differing pathogen environments encountered by disparate populations of a species is a challenging endeavor, these findings highlight the potential for these pathogens to selectively shape immune system variation.
KW - MHC
KW - Next-generation sequencing
KW - Pan troglodytes
KW - primates
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075936483&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85075936483&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00251-019-01148-3
DO - 10.1007/s00251-019-01148-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 31797008
AN - SCOPUS:85075936483
SN - 0093-7711
VL - 71
SP - 617
EP - 633
JO - Immunogenetics
JF - Immunogenetics
IS - 10
ER -