Extensive MHC variability in cichlid fishes of Lake Malawi (original) (raw)

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• Published: 22 July 1993

Nature volume 364, pages 330–334 (1993)Cite this article

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Abstract

LAKE Malawi in East Africa harbours 500–1,000 endemic species of cichlid fishes, all presumably derived by adaptive radiation from a single founding population within the past two million years1–3. The species of this 'flock' differ strikingly in their ecology and behaviour4, moderately in their external morphology1 and very little in their molecular characteristics5,6. Here we describe high sequence variability of class II major histocompatibility complex genes in a sample of species from Lake Malawi. The variability provides a set of molecular markers for studying adaptive radiation and should be useful for estimating the size of the population that founded the species flock.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, 33101, USA
   Dagmar Klein, Vladimir Vincek & Jan Klein
2. Max-Planck-lnstitut für Biologie, Abteilung Immungenetik, D-7400, Tübingen, Germany
   Hideki Ono, Colm O'hUigin & Jan Klein
3. Research Group on Ecological Morphology, Zoology Laboratory, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands
   Tijs Goldschmidt
4. Department of Dermatology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236, Japan
   Hideki Ono

Authors

1. Dagmar Klein
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2. Hideki Ono
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3. Colm O'hUigin
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4. Vladimir Vincek
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5. Tijs Goldschmidt
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6. Jan Klein
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Klein, D., Ono, H., O'hUigin, C. et al. Extensive MHC variability in cichlid fishes of Lake Malawi.Nature 364, 330–334 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/364330a0

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• Received: 01 October 1992
• Accepted: 30 April 1993
• Issue Date: 22 July 1993
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/364330a0

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