ISOLATION AND NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF A CDNA CLONE ENCODING A NOVEL HLA CLASS-I GENE

Abstract

A cDNA clone, designated JTW15, has been isolated and found to encode a novel, divergent class I HLA gene transcript. The clone was identified by its ability to hybridize with a pan-HLA class I nucleotide probe while failing to bind probes specific for the 3' untranslated exons of the HLA-A, -B, and -C genes. JTW15, 1665 nucleotides in length, represents a full length copy of an approximately 1.7-kb mRNA detected in Northern blot analyses. Comparison of the derived amino acid sequence with those of other HLA class I proteins showed JTW15 to be the most divergent HLA class I gene identified so far, the level of sequence homology being lowest for the alpha 1 and alpha 2 domains. The JTW15 gene..