Abstract
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in man, also called the HLA region, is located on the short arm of chromosome 6 and encodes antigens involved in immunological processes1. The class II HLA antigens consist of two noncovalently associated polypeptide chains, one of molecular weight 34,000 (α) and the other of molecular weight 29,000 (β)2. The extensive polymorphism of the β chain(s) has allowed the genetic mapping of the corresponding β gene(s) to the HLA-DR region3–5. cDNA clones for the HLA-DR α chain have been used to map the non-polymorphic DR α-chain gene to chromosome 6 using mouse–human somatic cell hybrids6. Similarly, the DR α-chain gene7 has been mapped to the short arm of chromosome 6 centromeric to the HLA-A, -B and -C loci by in situ hybridization experiments8. We isolated a cDNA clone that is related to the DR α chain and encodes the class II antigen DC α chain9. We describe here how this DC α clone was used to find two or three additional α-chain genes by cross-hybridization and how HLA-antigen loss mutants of a human lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL) were used to ascertain that these additional class II antigen α-chain genes are also located in the HLA region.
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Auffray, C., Kuo, J., DeMars, R. et al. A minimum of four human class II α-chain genes are encoded in the HLA region of chromosome 6. Nature 304, 174–177 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/304174a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/304174a0
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