Identification of major histocompatibility complex class I alleles in Chinese rhesus macaques

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I information is vital for understanding variance of immune responses in HIV vaccination and biomedical models. In this study, 9 Mamu-A and 13 Mamu-B alleles were identified from the cDNA products of 10 Chinese-origin rhesus macaques. Except for two alleles that had been reported by others, eight were novel and twelve extended the partial sequences that are available in GenBank. The additional information of MHC class I antigens might be beneficial to the availability of Chinese macaques in human disease studies. Furthermore, the polymorphism of leading peptides and the natural killer receptor recognition motifs in alpha1 domain both implies that Mamu-A and Mamu-B molecules might play key roles in innate immune responses of natural killer cells.