Comments on: Evolutionary theory? Check! MHC? Check! Cute animals? Check!

By: Why aren't most tumors transmissible? | Mystery Rays from Outer Space

Why aren't most tumors transmissible? | Mystery Rays from Outer Space — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:24:24 +0000

[...] Rapid MHC diversity in Channel Island Foxes [...]

By: Origins of an infectious cancer | Mystery Rays from Outer Space

Origins of an infectious cancer | Mystery Rays from Outer Space — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:04:06 +0000

[...] that arose in one cheetah could spread throughout the population. But MHC is generally diverse, and becomes diverse very rapidly, so these sort of low-diversity populations are unusual (though they may be more common than [...]

By: Mystery Rays from Outer Space - Meddling with things mankind is not meant to understand. Also, pictures of my kids » Testing overdominance in MHC: Can it be done?

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:09:55 +0000

[...] times more variable (more alleles) than the average genomic chunk. Even populations that are otherwise inbred and lack diversity throughout their genome, rapidly evolve, or maintain, MHC diversity. There is [...]

By: Mystery Rays from Outer Space - Meddling with things mankind is not meant to understand. Also, pictures of my kids » Heavyweight championship: Overdominance vs. frequency-dependent selection

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:45:41 +0000

[...] is part of a series that started with the observation of MHC diversity , discounted as causes high mutation frequency and maternal/fetal interactions , and suggested that [...]

By: Mystery Rays from Outer Space - Meddling with things mankind is not meant to understand. Also, pictures of my kids » SEX! (… and MHC diversity)

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:40:08 +0000

[...] Evolutionary theory? Check! MHC? Check! Cute animals? Check! [...]

By: Mystery Rays from Outer Space - Meddling with things mankind is not meant to understand. Also, pictures of my kids » Evolution of MHC: Elimination round

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:06:28 +0000

[...] Evolutionary theory? Check! MHC? Check! Cute animals? Check! [...]

By: iayork

iayork — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:14:33 +0000

The idea that the MHC region is particularly prone to mutation is a good one -- it's been one of the candidate explanations. However, it's not likely that that's the whole story, and it's probably not a significant part. Without digging into the details, there are two issues to deal with: The generation of new MHC alleles, and the selection that causes the new alleles to spread throughout the population. Self-mutilation would increase the number of new alleles, but wouldn't help them spread. (What you'd probably see would be a very large number of new alleles, each within a very tiny localized population.) In fact, analysis of the new alleles that form (as in the foxes here) suggests that they're being very strongly selected for. In general, the bone of contention is the nature of the selection on the new alleles once they're formed.

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:01:20 +0000

Is it possible there is some unusual mechanism for mutation in or change of MHC class I and II genes? Might they be self-mutilating or something? Might they interact with something outside the DNA itself? Are they in a particularly vulnerable position physically on the DNA? Do they “tell” the RNA during transcription, “hey, wing it for the next few bars”?