MHC class I and class II diversity of Zambian indigenous cattle populations

Due to the polygenic nature of bovine MHCI, DQA and DQB, the generation of high-resolution sequence data using Sanger sequencing has required costly and laborious sub-cloning procedures, which have limited large-scale studies of the allelic repertoire and also studies that attempt to sequence complete MHCI/MHCII haplotypes. In recent studies, we have exploited the opportunities afforded by high-throughput sequencing technologies to study the BoLA-I and DRB BoLA-DRB repertoires of large cattle cohorts from the UK, Brazil, Kenya and Cameroon (Vasoya et al. 2016, 2021). In this study, we expand on our previous work by developing an equivalent NGS approach to the analysis of BoLA-DQA and DQB. This was used in conjunction with the previously described BoLA-I and BoLA-DRB typing to characterize the MHC haplotypes of cohorts of Holstein-Friesian cattle from the UK and Angoni, Barotse, Baila and Tonga cattle from Zambia.