Differential evolutionary NMC class II strategies in humans and rhesus macaques: relevance for biomedical studies

The rhesus macaque is an important preclinical model in transplantation research and in investigations of chronic and infectious diseases that need a well-characterised major histo compatibility complex (MHC-Mamu). In a large population of pedigreed rhesus macaques, 70 Mamu-M, 18-DQA1, 24-DQB1, and 14-DPB1 alleles were detected. In humans, five HLA-DRB region configurations are present, displaying diversity with regard to number and combinations of loci. The HLA-DRB1 gene of each of these configurations is highly polymorphic. For rhesus monkeys, at least 31 Mamu-DRB region configurations have been determined. In contrast to humans, most Mamu-DRB region configurations display no or only limited allelic polymorphism. Segregation analyses revealed 28 Mamu-DQA1/DQB1 pairs, each pair linked to a limited number of Mamu-DRB region configurations and vice versa. In comparison with humans, the degree of freedom of recombination between Mamu-DQA1 and -DQB1 is extremely low and equivalents of HLA-DQA2/DQB2 are absent. The Mamu-DRA1 gene is invariant and -DPB1 manifests only moderate allelic variation, whereas the HLA-DPA1 gene is oligomorphic and HLA-DPB1 highly polymorphic. Thus, both species used different evolutionary strategies to create polymorphism and diversity at the C class H loci in order to cope with pathogens.