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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Stability and Structure of Bat Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I with Heterologous β2-Microglobulin
Published on: March 10, 2021
100 million years of multigene family evolution: origin and evolution of the avian MHC class IIB
Julien Goebel1, Marta Promerová2,3, Francesco Bonadonna4
1Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Background:
Gene duplication has led to a most remarkable adaptation involved in vertebrates' host-pathogen arms-race, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). However, MHC duplication history is as yet poorly understood in non-mammalian vertebrates, including birds.
Results:
Here, we provide evidence for the evolution of two ancient avian MHC class IIB (MHCIIB) lineages by a duplication event prior to the radiation of all extant birds >100 million years ago, and document the role of concerted evolution in eroding the footprints of the avian MHCIIB duplication history.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that eroded footprints of gene duplication histories may mimic birth-death evolution and that in the avian MHC the presence of the two lineages may have been masked by elevated rates of concerted evolution in several taxa. Through the presence of a range of intermediate evolutionary stages along the homogenizing process of concerted evolution, the avian MHCIIB provides a remarkable illustration of the erosion of multigene family duplication history.
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