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Avian MHC Evolution in the Era of Genomics : Phase 1.0

O'Connor, Emily LU ; Westerdahl, Helena LU ; Burri, Reto and Edwards, Scott (2019) In Cells 8(10).
Abstract
Birds are a wonderfully diverse and accessible clade with an exceptional range of ecologies and behaviors, making the study of the avian major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of great interest. In the last 20 years, particularly with the advent of high-throughput sequencing, the avian MHC has been explored in great depth in several dimensions: its ability to explain ecological patterns in nature, such as mating preferences; its correlation with parasite resistance; and its structural evolution across the avian tree of life. Here, we review the latest pulse of avian MHC studies spurred by high-throughput sequencing. Despite high-throughput approaches to MHC studies, substantial areas remain in need of improvement with regard to our... (More)
Birds are a wonderfully diverse and accessible clade with an exceptional range of ecologies and behaviors, making the study of the avian major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of great interest. In the last 20 years, particularly with the advent of high-throughput sequencing, the avian MHC has been explored in great depth in several dimensions: its ability to explain ecological patterns in nature, such as mating preferences; its correlation with parasite resistance; and its structural evolution across the avian tree of life. Here, we review the latest pulse of avian MHC studies spurred by high-throughput sequencing. Despite high-throughput approaches to MHC studies, substantial areas remain in need of improvement with regard to our understanding of MHC structure, diversity, and evolution. Recent studies of the avian MHC have nonetheless revealed intriguing connections between MHC structure and life history traits, and highlight the advantages of long-term ecological studies for understanding the patterns of MHC variation in the wild. Given the exceptional diversity of birds, their accessibility, and the ease of sequencing their genomes, studies of avian MHC promise to improve our understanding of the many dimensions and consequences of MHC variation in nature. However, significant improvements in assembling complete MHC regions with long-read sequencing will be required for truly transformative studies. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
MHC genes; birds; disease resistance; orthology; life history; gene duplication; long-read sequencing; high-throughput sequencing; concerted evolution; ecology
in
Cells
volume
8
issue
10
article number
1152
pages
21 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:31561531
  • scopus:85077538189
ISSN
2073-4409
DOI
10.3390/cells8101152
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c3e62c76-90ab-4cb1-aa0e-f55db37b0c7a
date added to LUP
2019-10-16 15:14:02
date last changed
2022-04-18 18:09:02
@article{c3e62c76-90ab-4cb1-aa0e-f55db37b0c7a,
  abstract     = {{Birds are a wonderfully diverse and accessible clade with an exceptional range of ecologies and behaviors, making the study of the avian major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of great interest. In the last 20 years, particularly with the advent of high-throughput sequencing, the avian MHC has been explored in great depth in several dimensions: its ability to explain ecological patterns in nature, such as mating preferences; its correlation with parasite resistance; and its structural evolution across the avian tree of life. Here, we review the latest pulse of avian MHC studies spurred by high-throughput sequencing. Despite high-throughput approaches to MHC studies, substantial areas remain in need of improvement with regard to our understanding of MHC structure, diversity, and evolution. Recent studies of the avian MHC have nonetheless revealed intriguing connections between MHC structure and life history traits, and highlight the advantages of long-term ecological studies for understanding the patterns of MHC variation in the wild. Given the exceptional diversity of birds, their accessibility, and the ease of sequencing their genomes, studies of avian MHC promise to improve our understanding of the many dimensions and consequences of MHC variation in nature. However, significant improvements in assembling complete MHC regions with long-read sequencing will be required for truly transformative studies.}},
  author       = {{O'Connor, Emily and Westerdahl, Helena and Burri, Reto and Edwards, Scott}},
  issn         = {{2073-4409}},
  keywords     = {{MHC genes; birds; disease resistance; orthology; life history; gene duplication; long-read sequencing; high-throughput sequencing; concerted evolution; ecology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Cells}},
  title        = {{Avian MHC Evolution in the Era of Genomics : Phase 1.0}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells8101152}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/cells8101152}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}