Allelic Polymorphism,Gene Duplication and Balancing Selection of MHC Class ⅡB Genes in the Omei Treefrog(Rhacophorus omeimontis)

作     者：Li HUANG Mian ZHAO Zhenhua LUO Hua WU 

作者机构：Institute of Evolution and EcologyInternational Research Centre of Ecology and EnvironmentSchool of Life SciencesCentral China Normal University 

出 版 物：《Asian Herpetological Research》 (亚洲两栖爬行动物研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2016年第7卷第1期

页      面：1-11页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 07[理学] 0905[农学-畜牧学] 09[农学] 071007[理学-遗传学] 090501[农学-动物遗传育种与繁殖] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31201713 No.31270425 and No.31470442) 

主　　题：MHC class ⅡB polymorphism gene duplication balancing selection Rhacophorus omeimontis 

摘      要：The worldwide declines in amphibian populations have largely been caused by infectious fungi and bacteria. Given that vertebrate immunity against these extracellular pathogens is primarily functioned by the major histocompatibility complex（MHC） class Ⅱ molecules, the characterization and the evolution of amphibian MHC class Ⅱ genes have attracted increasing attention. The polymorphism of MHC class Ⅱ genes was found to be correlated with susceptibility to fungal pathogens in many amphibian species, suggesting the importance of studies on MHC class Ⅱ genes for amphibians. However, such studies on MHC class Ⅱ gene evolution have rarely been conducted on amphibians in China. In this study, we chose Omei treefrog（Rhacophorus omeimontis）, which lived moist environments easy for breeding bacteria, to study the polymorphism of its MHC class Ⅱ genes and the underlying evolutionary mechanisms. We amplified the entire MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequence in the R. omeimontis using newly designed primers. We detected 102 putative alleles in 146 individuals. The number of alleles per individual ranged from one to seven, indicating that there are at least four loci containing MHC class ⅡB genes in R. omeimontis. The allelic polymorphism estimated from the 102 alleles in R. omeimontis was not high compared to that estimated in other anuran species. No significant gene recombination was detected in the 102 MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequences. In contrast, both gene duplication and balancing selection greatly contributed to the variability in MHC class ⅡB exon 2 sequences of R. omeimontis. This study lays the groundwork for the future researches to comprehensively analyze the evolution of amphibian MHC genes and to assess the role of MHC gene polymorphisms in resistance against extracellular pathogens for amphibians in China.