"Mapping the opossum MHC has allowed us to deduce what the MHC of ancestral mammals looked like," says Belov. "We think it contained several different types of immune genes in a single complex. These genes are no longer found in a single complex in any living animal but are scattered over various chromosomes. We have named this complex 'The Immune Supercomplex.'"
Belov et al. found that while the size and complexity of the opossum MHC is closer to eutherian (placental) mammals, its organization is closer to fish and birds. "The clues we unearthed by looking at different genomes are also helping us to understand how our own intricate immune system evolved from the relatively simple immune system seen in lower vertebrates such as birds and fish," says Belov.
"Interest in marsupial and monotreme genomes comes from their important positions in vertebrate evolution," says Belov. (Monotremes are egg-laying mammals, represented today by only the platypus and echidna.) "Comparing genes of placental mammals, such as the human and the mouse, is not very efficient because their genes can be so similar it is hard to pinpoint regions that remain unchanged because they serve a particular purpose. In contrast, comparison of distantly related genes, such as the chicken and human, can be difficult, because the sequences are so different."
"Marsupial and monotreme genomes fill this gap. They are easily aligned with placental mammal genomes
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Contact: Paul Ocampo
press@plos.org
415-624-1224
Public Library of Science
30-Jan-2006