The Genomic Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Rat Major Histocompatibility Complex

  1. Peter Hurt1,
  2. Lutz Walter2,
  3. Ralf Sudbrak1,
  4. Sven Klages1,
  5. Ines Müller1,3,
  6. Takashi Shiina4,
  7. Hidetoshi Inoko4,
  8. Hans Lehrach1,
  9. Eberhard Günther2,5,
  10. Richard Reinhardt1,5, and
  11. Heinz Himmelbauer1,6
  1. 1 Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Genetik, D-14195 Berlin-Dahlem, Germany
  2. 2 Abteilung Immungenetik, Universität Göttingen, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany
  3. 3 RZPD Deutsches Ressourcenzentrum für Genomforschung GmbH, D-14059 Berlin, Germany
  4. 4 Tokai University School of Medicine, Kanagawa 259-1193, Japan

Abstract

We have determined the sequence of a 4-Mb interval on rat chromosome 20p12 that encompasses the rat major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This is the first report of a finished sequence for a segment of the rat genome and constitutes one of the largest contiguous sequences thus far for rodent genomes in general. The rat MHC is, next to the human MHC, the second mammalian MHC sequenced to completion. Our analysis has resulted in the identification of at least 220 genes located within the sequenced interval. Although gene content and order are well conserved in the class II and class III gene intervals as well as the framework gene regions, profound rat-specific features were encountered within the class I gene regions, in comparison to human and mouse. Class I region-associated differences were found both at the structural level, the number, and organization of class I genes and gene families, and, in a more global context, in the way that evolution worked to shape the present-day rat MHC.

Footnotes

  • [Supplemental material is available online at www.genome.org. The nucleotide sequences reported in this work have been submitted to GenBank under accession nos. BX11170 and AL603724.]

  • Article and publication are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.1987704.

  • ↵5 These authors share second-to-last senior coauthorship.

  • ↵6 Corresponding author. E-MAIL himmelbauer{at}molgen.mpg.de; FAX 49 30-8413-1380.

    • Accepted December 8, 2003.
    • Received September 18, 2003.
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  1. doi: 10.1101/gr.1987704 Genome Res. 14: 631-639 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

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