Composite origin of major histocompatibility complex genes

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes have now been cloned from representatives of all vertebrate classes except Agnatha. The recent accumulation of sequence data has given great insight into the course of evolution of these genes. Although the primary structure of the MHC genes varies greatly from class to class and also within the individual classes, the general features of the tertiary and quaternary structure have been conserved remarkably well during more than 400 million years of evolution. The ancestral MHC genes may have been assembled from at least three structural elements derived from different gene families. Class II MHC genes appear to have been assembled first, and then to have given rise to class I genes.