Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Barbara C. Rütgen, Wilhelm Gerner, Armin Saalmüller, Sabine E. Hammer
MHC typing in swine: The SLA-haplotype repertoire of
Austrian Large White, Landrace, and Pietrain breeding stocks
MHC (major histocompatibility complex) genes encode cell surface glycoproteins which
bind and present antigenic peptides to T cells. The genes within this complex are highly
polymorphic, suggesting that diversity in MHC genes is a good measure of population
fitness. Resource herds of swine leukocyte antigen (SLA)-characterized pigs are
valuable large animal models for biomedical research in terms of immune responses,
disease resistance, and production traits. This study represents the initial
characterization of founder haplotypes of commercial pigs in Austria which are F2
descendants of purebred Large White, Landrace, and Pietrain populations. The
respective founder SLA-haplotypes were detected by a reverse transcription-polymerase
chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based SLA typing method to clone and DNA sequence the
putative alleles at four SLA class Ia loci, designated as SLA-1, SLA-2, SLA-3, and SLA-6
and four SLA class II loci, SLA-DQA1, SLA-DQB1, SLA-DRA1, and SLA-DRB1. The data
obtained so far indicate that the Large White, Landrace, and Pietrain pigs have at least
four SLA class Ia founder haplotypes (4a.0, 4b.0, 13.0, 5.0) and three SLA class II
founder haplotypes (0.4, 0.2, 0.9). Furthermore, the analyzed specimen point toward
the occurrence of at least three novel SLA class Ia haplotypes. The newly generated
sequences will be used to design allele-specific primers for establishing a rapid SLA
typing assay to discriminate each allele using PCR with sequence-specific primers (PCR-
SSP). To check the PCR screening approach for false negatives, positive control primers
were also designed to amplify a portion of the alpha-actin gene and multiplexed with
the allele-specific primers. By applying a combination of SLA typing by cloning and DNA
sequencing together with PCR-SSP, we will be able to characterize the entire Large
White, Landrace, and Pietrain breeding stocks and to identify the SLA haplotype
distribution present in the respective breeds.