Journal of Heredity Advance Access published online on February 17, 2006
Journal of Heredity, doi:10.1093/jhered/esj013
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1 From the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; From the Center for Tropical Research, Institute of the Environment, 1609 Hershey Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; Andres Aguilar is now at the Department of Ocean Sciences and Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 110 Shaffer Road, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. We have isolated major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II
Received March 28, 2004
Accepted November 30, 2005
Article
Patterns of Variation in MHC Class II
Andres Aguilar 1 *,
Scott V. Edwards 2,
Thomas B. Smith 3,
and
Robert K. Wayne 3
Loci of the Little Greenbul (Andropadus virens) with Comments on MHC Evolution in Birds
2 From the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
3 From the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; From the Center for Tropical Research, Institute of the Environment, 1609 Hershey Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Andres Aguilar, E-mail: andres.aguilar{at}noaa.gov
Abstract 
loci from the little greenbul (Andropadus virens), an African songbird. We utilized preexisting information about conserved regions of the avian MHC to design primers to amplify a pool of sequences representing multiple loci. From this pool, a unique locus spanning 1109 bp that we designate as Anvi-DAB1 was cloned and sequenced. We designed locus-specific primers based on this sequence information and amplified six alleles from seven individuals. Compared to other A. virens MHC sequences obtained from genomic DNA or cDNA, the variability of sequences from Anvi-DAB1 was low and the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitution was much less than one, suggesting that Anvi-DAB1 may either be a pseudogene or a nonclassical MHC locus. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Anvi-DAB1 locus was highly divergent when compared with other passerine or A. virens genomic or transcribed MHC sequences. The use of conserved MHC primers followed by analysis of cloned sequences allows rapid isolation of MHC loci from exotic species and avoids laborious large-scale cloning and sequencing.
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