Veterinary Archives, Vol. 90 No. 4, 2020.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24099/vet.arhiv.0862
Variability of the DRB locus of MHC genes class II in red deer (Cervus elaphus) from a mountain region of Croatia
Miljenko Bujanić
; Department of Veterinary Economics and Epidemiology, The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Elena Bužan
; Department of Biodiversity, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
Ana Galov
; Division of Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Haidi Arbanasić
; Division of Animal Physiology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Sandra Potušek
; Department of Biodiversity, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia
Sunčica Stipoljev
; Department of Fisheries, Beekeping, Game Management and Special Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Nikica Šprem
; Department of Fisheries, Beekeping, Game Management and Special Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Krešimir Križanović
; Department of Electronic Systems and Information Processing, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Dean Konjević
; Department of Veterinary Economics and Epidemiology, The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Red deer (Cervus elaphus) are large indigenous mammals in Croatia. Even though Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes play a pivotal role in initiating immune response, there are no reports on their variability in red deer from Croatia. In this study, the variability of the DRB locus of MHC genes class II was analysed in 23 red deer from a mountain region of Croatia (Gorski Kotar). NGS sequencing revealed 23 unique DRB exon 2 sequences in 23 individuals, of which only six had been previously identified. The number of allelic variants per individual ranged from 1 to 6 (mean 3.09), with one individual having only one allele and one individual having all six allelic variants recognised. The most frequent allele, Ceel-DRB*HR01, was identified in 12 individuals (16.9%). The number of variable nucleotide sites was 84 (33.7%), and the number of variable amino acid positions in translated sequences was 44 (53%). The mean nucleotide evolutionary distance, based on the Jukes-Cantor model, with the gamma distribution shape parameter, was 16.5%, while the pairwise nucleotide distance ranged from 0.04% to 14.24%. The amino acid evolutionary distance, based on the Jones-Taylor-Thornton model, was 34.7%. Compared to the literature, it is clear that the mountain population of red deer from Croatia possesses considerable variability on the DRB locus, which is further confirmed by the notable nucleotide evolutionary distance.
Keywords
red deer; MHC genes; DRB locus; variability; mountain region
Hrčak ID:
245190
URI
Publication date:
22.10.2020.
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