Mapping the functional major histocompatibility complex genes in zebrafish

描述（由申请人提供）：斑马鱼（Danio rerio）是研究体内脊椎动物生物学许多特征的强大遗传模型。然而，由于缺乏对斑马鱼主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）基因的了解，移植方法一直落后于斑马鱼。为了将斑马鱼模型的遗传和筛选优势应用于涉及移植生物学各个方面的问题，必须鉴定斑马鱼中的功能性MHC基因。与小鼠和人类不同，其中I类和II类MHC基因都与作为单倍型从每个亲本遗传的单个染色体基因座相连，斑马鱼中似乎至少有三个染色体基因座通过序列同源性具有推定的MHC基因。尽管大量的工作映射这些MHC基因，几乎没有数据表征其功能。目前还不清楚哪些基因实际上表达在细胞表面，发挥功能性作用，提出肽抗原识别外来组织。我们建议映射的功能性MHC基因在斑马鱼的移植免疫匹配是很重要的。这将在具体目标1中使用候选基因方法来解决。将推定的斑马鱼MHC基因单独克隆到过表达载体中。将通过将MHC表达载体和鼠c-Myc癌基因共注射到单细胞克隆CG 1鱼中来产生斑马鱼T细胞白血病。这些白血病将被移植到CG 1受体鱼中。如果假定的MHC基因是功能性的，则肿瘤将被排斥。如果MHC基因不起作用，白血病将移植，导致受体死亡。Specific Aim 2将使用无偏见的方法来绘制移植肿瘤排斥反应所需的基因。在这种情况下，将通过将鼠c-Myc癌基因注射到来自克隆CG 1鱼和AB/CG 1杂交鱼的系列杂交的单细胞后代中来产生肿瘤。随后的每一代将具有较少的AB MHC等位基因，并且最终一些后代将仅携带CG 1 MHC等位基因。这些MHC匹配的肿瘤将植入CG 1受体，而不匹配的肿瘤被排斥。标准的定位克隆方法将被用来映射相关基因的肿瘤，不植入与肿瘤的同胞鱼，做移植。这些目标将共同确定功能性斑马鱼MHC基因，为许多以前不可能的移植实验打开大门。这样的实验将利用斑马鱼模型的优势，从而解决哺乳动物中难以或不可能提出的问题。由于数千个兄弟后代可以在几周内从斑马鱼的一对交配中产生，因此可以进行与造血和肿瘤移植相关的大规模化学和遗传筛选。此外，研究抗原呈递、淋巴细胞和自然杀伤细胞的活化以及斑马鱼中的传染病模型的免疫学实验也将成为可能。功能性MHC基因的发现将为斑马鱼研究人员研究移植和脊椎动物生物学的许多方面打开大门。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a powerful genetic model to study many features of vertebrate biology in vivo. However, transplantation methods have been lagging in the zebrafish due to lack of knowledge about the zebrafish Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes. In order to apply the genetic and screening advantages of the zebrafish model to questions involving all aspects of transplantation biology, the functional MHC genes in the zebrafish must be identified. Unlike mice and humans where both Class I and Class II MHC genes are linked to a single chromosomal locus inherited as a haplotype from each parent, there appear to be at least three chromosomal loci in the zebrafish with putative MHC genes by sequence homology. Despite substantial work mapping these MHC genes, there are almost no data characterizing their function. It is unclear which genes are actually expressed on the cell surface, playing a functional role presenting peptide antigens to recognize foreign tissues. We propose to map the functional MHC genes in the zebrafish that are important for immune matching in transplantation. This will be addressed in Specific Aim 1 using a candidate gene approach. Putative zebrafish MHC genes will be individually cloned into an overexpression vector. Zebrafish T cell leukemias will be generated by co-injecting the MHC expression vector and the murine c-Myc oncogene into single-cell clonal CG1 fish. These leukemias will be transplanted into CG1 recipient fish. If the putative MHC gene is functional, the tumor will be rejected. If the MHC gene is not functional, the leukemia will engraft, causing the recipient's death. Specific Aim 2 will use an unbiased approach to map the genes required for rejection of a transplanted tumor. In this case tumors will be generated by injection of the murine c-Myc oncogene into single-cell progeny from serial crosses of clonal CG1 fish and AB/CG1 hybrid fish. Each subsequent generation will have fewer AB MHC alleles, and eventually some progeny will carry only CG1 MHC alleles. These MHC-matched tumors will engraft into CG1 recipients while mismatched tumors are rejected. Standard positional cloning methods will be used to map the relevant gene in tumors that do not engraft compared with tumors from sibling fish that do engraft. Together these aims will identify the functional zebrafish MHC genes, opening the door to numerous transplantation experiments that have previously not been possible. Such experiments would harness the advantages of the zebrafish model, and hence address questions that are difficult or impossible to ask in mammals. Because thousands of sibling progeny can be generated in a few weeks from a single mating pair of zebrafish, large scale chemical and genetic screens related to hematopoietic and tumor transplantation could be performed. In addition, immunology experiments studying antigen presentation, activation of lymphocytes and natural killer cells, and infectious disease models in the zebrafish would become possible. Discovery of the functional MHC genes would open the door for zebrafish researchers studying many aspects of transplantation and vertebrate biology.