Molecular cloning of a lamprey homologue of the mammalian MHC class III gene, complement factor B

To elucidate the origin and evolution of the complement system and the MHC, we isolated cDNA clones for the MHC class III complement factor B (Bf) gene from lamprey, one of the most primitive extant vertebrates. A part of the serine protease domain of the lamprey Bf was amplified by reverse transcriptase-PCR using the degenerated primers corresponding to the conserved amino acid stretches between the mouse Bf and C2 sequences. A full-length lamprey Bf cDNA clone was isolated from the lamprey liver cDNA library using a PCR-amplified DNA clone as a probe. The deduced amino acid sequence of 763 residues showed essentially the same domain structure as mammalian Bf or C2, consisting of three short consensus repeat domains, a von Willebrand domain, and a serine protease domain. Lamprey Bf showed 33 and 29% overall amino acid similarity to mouse Bf and mouse C2, respectively, whereas amino acid similarity between mouse Bf and mouse C2 was 36%, suggesting that the gene duplication of Bf/C2 occurred in the main line of vertebrate evolution after the divergence of cyclostomes. This is the first report of the molecular cloning from cyclostomes of a component of the mammalian MHC that offers the possibility of genetic analysis of the presumably primitive MHC of cyclostomes.