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The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large locus on vertebrate DNA containing a set of closely linked polymorphic genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. These cell surface proteins are called MHC molecules. The name of this locus comes from its discovery through the study of transplanted ...
Allele. An allele[1], or allelomorph, is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or locus, on a DNA molecule. [2] Alleles can differ at a single position through single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), [3] but they can also have insertions and deletions of up to several thousand base pairs. [4]
When multiple different alleles for a gene are present in a species's population it is called polymorphic. Most different alleles are functionally equivalent, however some alleles can give rise to different phenotypic traits. A gene's most common allele is called the wild type, and rare alleles are called mutants.
The two possible arrangements, cis and trans, of alleles in a double heterozygote are referred to as gametic phases, and phasing is the process of determining which of the two is present in a given individual. When two genes are located on the same chromosome, the chance of a crossover producing recombination between the genes is related to the ...
The alternative "forms" are now called alleles. For each trait, an organism inherits two alleles, one from each parent. These alleles may be the same or different. An organism that has two identical alleles for a gene is said to be homozygous for that gene (and is called a homozygote).
Histocompatibility, or tissue compatibility, is the property of having the same, or sufficiently similar, alleles of a set of genes called human leukocyte antigens (HLA), or major histocompatibility complex (MHC). [1] Each individual expresses many unique HLA proteins on the surface of their cells, which signal to the immune system whether a ...
The set of alleles for a given organism is called its genotype, while the observable traits of the organism are called its phenotype. When organisms are heterozygous at a gene, often one allele is called dominant as its qualities dominate the phenotype of the organism, while the other allele is called recessive as its qualities recede and are ...
The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. [1] Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. [2] The number of alleles an individual can have in a specific gene depends on the number of copies of each chromosome found in that species, also ...