Allelic variants of the human MHC class I chain-related B gene (MICB)

The human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is located within a 4 megabase segment on chromosome 6p21.3. Recently, a highly divergent MHC class I chain-related gene family, MIC was identified within the class I region. The MICA and MICB genes in this family have unique patterns of tissue expression. The MICA gene is highly polymorphic, with more than 20 alleles identified to date. To elucidate the extent of MICB allelic variations, we sequenced exons 2 (alpha 1), 3 (alpha 2), 4 (alpha 3), and 5 (transmembrane) as well as introns 2 and 4 of this gene in 46 HLA homozygous B-cell lines. We report the identification of eleven alleles based on seven non-synonymous, two synonymous, and four intronic nucleotide variations. Interestingly, one allele has a nonsense mutation resulting in a premature termination codon in the alpha 2 domain. Thus, MICB appears to have fewer alleles than MICA, not unlike the allelic ratio between the HLA-C and -B loci. A preliminary linkage analysis of the MICB alleles with those of the closely located MICA and HLA-B genes revealed no conspicuous linkage disequilibrium between them, implying the presence of a potential recombination hotspot between the MICB and MICA genes.