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Updated: Sep 14, 2026

qKAT: Quantitative Semi-automated Typing of Killer-cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptor Genes
Published on: March 6, 2019
Rapid evolution of NK cell receptor systems demonstrated by comparison of chimpanzees and humans
S I Khakoo1, R Rajalingam, B P Shum
1Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, California 94305, USA.
Abstract:
That NK cell receptors engage fast-evolving MHC class I ligands suggests that they, too, evolve rapidly. To test this hypothesis, the structure and class I specificity of chimpanzee KIR and CD94:NKG2 receptors were determined and compared to their human counterparts. The KIR families are divergent, with only three KIR conserved between chimpanzees and humans. By contrast, CD94:NKG2 receptors are conserved. Whereas receptors for polymorphic class I are divergent, those for nonpolymorphic class I are conserved. Although chimpanzee and human NK cells exhibit identical receptor specificities for MHC-C, they are mediated by nonorthologous KIR. These results demonstrate the rapid evolution of NK cell receptor systems and imply that "catching up" with class I is not the only force driving this evolution.
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