MHC class I of Chinese Rhesus Monkeys and their impact on SIV replication

MHC gene products determine the repertoire of T cell responses that an individual can generate against pathogens, like HIV-1. SIV infected Chinese rhesus monkeys are wildly applied as model of HIV/AIDS for immunology research and vaccine development, but its utility has been hindered by the unprecedented complexity of their MHCs. With Roche 454 GS FLX Titanium platform, we implemented massively parallel pyrosequencing of cDNA-PCR amplicons for MHC class I of 198 Chinese rhesus monkeys in 2011. Briefly, after RNA extraction from PBMC and reverse-transcription, we prepared 305 bp PCR amplicons coding partial exon 2 and exon 3 with primers based on highly conserved sequences within macaque MHC class IA and IB loci, and sent amplicons to commercial sequencing company (Majorbio Bio-pharm Biotechnology Co.,Ltd) for pyrosequencing. Then, 134 monkeys were infected by SIVmac239 and followed up for more than 1 year. After data analysis, we identified relationships between SIV control and MHC class I genotypes and putative amino acid sequences.