CLONING, STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS, AND MAPPING OF THE B30 AND B7 MULTIGENIC FAMILIES TO THE MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX (MHC) AND OTHER CHROMOSOMAL REGIONS

We present the cloning, structural analysis, and mapping of new member s belonging to two multigenic families, the B30-RING finger family and the B7.1-B7.2 family, as well as two genes derived by exon shuffling from members of these families. Eight new members were found and three of them map to the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) regio n. Phylogenic and physical mapping analysis allowed us to decipher the evolutionary story of these two multigenic families and to shed light on the evolution of the MHC region. We also show that a deductive ana lysis can be used to predict the existence of a given gene.