Diversity and selection in the major histocompatibility complex: DQA and immune function in IRL and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

• Other Authors: Ferrer, Tatiana., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Florida Atlantic University
• Subjects: Major histocompatibility complex; Immunogenetics; Molecular genetics; Endocrine disrupting chemicals; Dolphins > Geographical distribution; Dolphins > Atlantic Ocean > Geographical distribution; Population genetics; Social behavior in animals; Ferrer; Indian; Orca; Orcinus orca
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362335; https://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A4173/datastream/TN/view/Diversity%20and%20selection%20in%20the%20major%20histocompatibility%20complex.jpg

The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) encodes proteins critical to the vertebrate immune response; therefore MHC diversity is an indicator of population health. I have (1) Isolated exon 2 of the class II gene DQA in Tursiops truncatus in the North Indian River Lagoon (IRL) (n=17), South IRL (n=29) and adjacent Atlantic waters (n=20), (2) assessed genetic variability between groups, (3) developed a method to genotype individuals, (4) typed 11 unique alleles in 66 individuals, (5) detected geographic patterns of diversity between estuarine and coastal individuals (FST=0.1255, p<0.05), (6) found evidence of positive selection centered in the binding pockets P1, P6 and P9 of the peptide binding region (w=2.08), (7) found that patterns of polymorphism did not closely match patterns of diversity in neutral markers, (8) performed a pilot study with Orcinus orca. The initial findings highlight the need for further comparative work and suggest that silent mutations are not neutral. by Tatiana Ferrer. Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. Includes bibliography. Mode of access: World Wide Web. System requirements: Adobe Reader.