Abstract
Rejection of male tissue grafts by genotypically identical female mice has been explained by the existence of a male-specific transplantation antigen, H-Y (ref. 1), but the molecular nature of H-Y antigen has remained obscure. Hya, the murine locus controlling H-Y expression, has been localized to ΔSxrb, a deletion interval of the short arm of the Y chromosome2. In mice, H–Y antigen comprises at least four distinct epitopes, each recognized by a specific T lymphocyte clone. It has recently been shown that one of these epitopes, H-YKk, is a peptide encoded by the Y-linked Smcy gene, presented at the cell surface with the H-2Kk major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule3. However, deletion mapping and the analysis of variable inactivation of H-Y epitopes has suggested that the Hya locus may be genetically complex4,5. Here we describe a novel mouse Y chromosome gene which we call Uty (ubiquitously transcribed tetratricopeptide repeat gene on the Y chromosome). We identify the peptide WMHHNMDLI derived from the UTY protein as an H-Y epitope, H-YDb. Our data formally demonstrate that H-Y antigen is the product of more than one gene on the Y chromosome.
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Greenfield, A., Scott, D., Pennisi, D. et al. An H–YDb epitope is encoded by a novel mouse Y chromosome gene. Nat Genet 14, 474–478 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1296-474
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1296-474
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