Polymorphism Of MHC I Alleles In Cynomolgus Macaques Of Vietnamese Origin

Cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) have emerged as important animalmodels for biomedical research such as the pathogenesis of simian immunodeficiencyvirus (SIV) and transplantation. Studies shows that polymorphism of MHC gene has animportant meaning to experimental animal models for the study of the pathology. Itbecame an urgent requirement to define the immunogenetics background of the majorhistocompatibility complex (MHC) in the cynomolgus macaque because of the ban onexportation from India of the Rhesus macaque in 1978 and the increased availability ofcynomolgus macaques in recent years. Until now, 299 Mafa-A (Mafa-A1, A2, A3, A4, A5,A6) alleles and 294 Mafa-B alleles have been named by NHP Nomenclature Committee.In this research, the peripheral blood samples were collected from 150 healthycynomolgus macaques of Vietnamese origin farmed in South China Primate ResearchCenter. The 1st strand cDNA was synthesized using RNA extracted from blood samples byRT-PCR. Then universal primers were designed to characterize the MHC class I alleles inindividual cDNA and cDNA pool. In this study, we identified in total 65 Mafa-B alleles,of which 42 had been described previously by other research groups; the other 23sequences were novel alleles. We identified in total 54 Mafa-A alleles, of which 28sequences were novel alleles.The sequences identified met the criteria for screening MHCalleles and they were submitted to the GenBank and IPD-MHC databases. Thesesequences were assigned by the NHP Nomenclature Committee. In the present study wealso examed the distribution of the alleles in our papulation. We found 1-4 Mafa-A allelesand 1-7 Mafa-B alleles were expressed in individual monkey, respectively. 7 alleles ofhigh frequence were found: Mafa-B*007:01:01, Mafa-A1*022:06, Mafa-B*002:04, Mafa-B*039:01, Mafa-B*085:01, Mafa-A1*081:01:01 and Mafa-A3*13:07, the frequency ofwhich were24.24%, 19.44%, 18.18%, 18.18%, 18.18%, 16.67%, 16.67%. We didn't foundco-expression of high frequency Mafa-A and -B alleles. In addition, we found that a smallset of alleles were shared between the monkeys of Vietnamese origin and other orign.