Molecular Cloning of Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I Cdna From Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus  Gallus)

Sanjeev Kumar Shukla¹*, Shahaj Uddin Ahmed²*, Ashutosh Tiwari²*, Jose Mathew¹ and Deepak Sharma²*

¹Genome Mapping laboratory, Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly India.

²Department of Biotechnology, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: sanjeevcloning@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I molecules play an essential role in the immune defense against intracellular infections. This 92-kilobase region of the B locus contains only 19 genes, making the chicken MHC roughly 20-fold smaller than the human MHC. Virtually all the genes have counterparts in the human MHC, defining a minimal essential set of MHC genes conserved over 200 million years of divergence between birds and mammals. The small size and simplicity of the chicken MHC allows co-evolution of genes as haplotypes over considerable periods of time, and makes it possible to study the striking MHC-determined pathogen-specific disease resistance 8-10 at the molecular level. The MHC class I gene was amplified, cloned and sequenced in Red Jungle Fowl (RJF) using primers specific to BF2 gene in chicken. The amplified RJF MHC class I amino acid sequence was 179 amino acids in size. 88 Amino acids in a1 domin (complete exon-2), 91 amino acids in a2 domin (complete exon-3). The Percentage of polymorphism in amino acid sequence of a1 domain in RJF and other poultry species in chicken, guinea fowl, quail, duck and goose was 6.82, 35.56, 30.00, 48.86 and 46.59%, a2 domin 8.79, 17.39, 25.27, 34.78 and 33.70%.

KEYWORDS: CDNA, Red Jungle Fowl (RJF); MHC Class I

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