Specific allelic variation among linked HLA class II genes

Abstract

Locus-specific oligonucleotides have been used as probes to detect polymorphic alleles for the HLA genes DQ beta, DQ alpha, DX alpha, and DO beta. These genes lie between the HLA DR and DP genes on chromosome 6, a region frequently implicated in intra-HLA recombination. In order to distinguish among these highly homologous HLA class II genes, we have identified sequences in the coding regions that are locus specific and have synthesized short oligonucleotide probes corresponding to these regions. We have used these probes in a gel hybridization procedure to analyze restriction-enzyme-digested genomic DNA and to assign polymorphic bands to a particular locus. Taq I-digested DNA hybridized with a DQ-beta-specific probe detects a single band per haplotype. The size of this band corresponds precisely to the expressed DQ beta gene and distinguishes among the serologically defined DQ alleles, providing a rapid method for genomic DQ typing. Similar analysis with an oligonucleotide probe specific for DX alpha, the nonexpressed alpha gene in the DQ subregion, detects 2 DX alleles, and hybridization with an oligonucleotide specific for the newly described DO beta gene detects 2 alleles at DO beta. Heterogeneity in linkage patterns among DQ, DX, and DO genes suggests that frequent recombinational events at multiple intergenic sites contributed to the generation of present-day haplotypes. One such recombinational event was identified directly in a family with serologically HLA-identical siblings, in which genomic analysis indicated a parental recombination event mapping between DR and DX, which correlated with unexpected alloreactivity.