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Trans‐specific Mhc polymorphism and the origin of species in primates
Author(s) -
Klein Jan,
Satta Yoko,
Takahata Naoyuki,
O'hUigin Colm
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of medical primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1600-0684
pISSN - 0047-2565
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0684.1993.tb00637.x
Subject(s) - major histocompatibility complex , biology , evolutionary biology , extant taxon , allele , genetics , population , gene , demography , sociology
The major histocompatibility complex ( Mhc ) is a cluster of loci controlling the specific immune response in vertebrates. Mhc alleles often differ by a large number of nucleotide substitutions, some of which began to accumulate before the emergence of extant species. We have applied the theory of allelic genealogy to the primate Mhc genes with the aim of estimating the size of the founding populations. The calculations indicate that the long‐term effective population size of the studied species was between 10 4 and 10 5 individuals and that it most likely never dropped below 10 3 individuals.