A NOVEL HLA-DR13 ALLELE (DRB1-ASTERISK-1314) IDENTIFIED BY SINGLE-STRAND CONFORMATION POLYMORPHISM ANALYSIS AND CONFIRMED BY DIRECT SEQUENCING

A novel variant of the HLA-DR13 group is described. The new allele was found in a DR10,13 heterozygous patient of Turkish origin, two HLA ge notypically identical children of the patient typed as DR11,13, and on e child typed as DR13,13. DR13 subtyping of the patient was initially performed by SSCP analysis of PCR-amplified DNA, using the 11th IHWS p rimers DRBAMP-3 and DRBAMP-B. Due to an unusual SSCP banding pattern, the PCR product was subjected to solid-phase sequencing. The sequence of the new allele, DRB11314, is different from that of DRB1*1307 by a single nucleotide substitution in codon 47, with T replacing consensu s A. This results in a single amino acid change of tryptophan to pheny lalanine in the first domain of the DR beta chain.