| Themes > Science > Life Sciences > General Biology > Immunology > Recognition Systems in Immunity > The Major Histocompatibility Complex > MHC Loci |
In man and mouse, as in most species, each class of MHC is represented by more than one locus (polygeny), in man these are called HLA for Human Leucocyte Antigen. The class I loci are HLA-A,-B and -C and the class II loci HLA-DR, -DQ and -DP. All the MHC genes map within a single region of the chromosome (hence the term Complex); the physical map of the MHC of man and mouse has been determined by cloning, mapping and sequencing. All MHC loci are expressed co-dominantly, that is to say both the set of alleles inherited from one's father and the set inherited from one's mother are expressed on each cell. In about 97% of cases the entire linked MHC complex is inherited intact, i.e. without recombination; the set of linked MHC alleles found on the same chromosome is called a haplotype. |
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