Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) has long been used as an experimental model animal for biomedical research and was under the key state protection (class II) from Chinese government. In order to facilitate the use of Chinese rhesus macaques in biomedical research and their protection based on better understanding of the major mistocompability complex (MHC) genes in these macaques, the exon 2 of Mamu-DPB1 genes were determined in 106 wild rhesus macaques using DGGE, cloning and sequencing. A total of 21 Mamu-DPB1 alleles were obtained, of which 15 alleles were novel sequences that had not been documented previously. Mamu-DPB1 30 was the most frequent allele in the whole large population comprising all 106 rhesus macaque individuals (0.1120) and in Xiaojin population (0.1120), Mamu-DPB1 04 in Heishui (0.1702), -DPB1 32 in Bazhong (0.1613), -DPB1 30 in Hanyuan (0.1120), and -DPB1 04 in Jiulong (0.1139). The alignment of the amino acids sequences showed that 12 variable sites were species-specific, of which 9 sites occurred in the putative amino acids sequences of the 15 novel Mamu-DPB1 alleles. Trans-species polymorphism was observed on the phylogenetic tree based on the DPB1 alleles of rhesus macaques and cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis). In addition, these results also demonstrated that significant genetic differentiation has occurred between Chinese and Indian rhesus macaque population.
Amino Acid Sequence Animals