Unusual selection on the KIR3DL1/S1 natural killer cell receptor in Africans

Authors

Paul J. Norman, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Laurent Abi-Rached, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Ketevan Gendzekhadze, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Daniel Korbel, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London
Michael Gleimer, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Don Rowley, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Dan Bruno, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Christine V F Carrington, University of West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Dasdayanee Chandanayingyong, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Kamran Hamid, Aga Khan UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Department

Internal Medicine (East Africa)

Abstract

Interactions of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I ligands diversify natural killer cell responses to infection. By analyzing sequence variation in diverse human populations, we show that the KIR3DL1/S1 locus encodes two lineages of polymorphic inhibitory KIR3DL1 allotypes that recognize Bw4 epitopes of protein">HLA-A and HLA-B and one lineage of conserved activating KIR3DS1 allotypes, also implicated in Bw4 recognition. Balancing selection has maintained these three lineages for over 3 million years. Variation was selected at D1 and D2 domain residues that contact HLA class I and at two sites on D0, the domain that enhances the binding of KIR3D to HLA class I. HLA-B variants that gained Bw4 through interallelic microconversion are also products of selection. A worldwide comparison uncovers unusual KIR3DL1/S1 evolution in modern sub-Saharan Africans. Balancing selection is weak and confined to D0, KIR3DS1 is rare and KIR3DL1 allotypes with similar binding sites predominate. Natural killer cells express the dominant KIR3DL1 at a high frequency and with high surface density, providing strong responses to cells perturbed in Bw4 expression.

Comments

This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Nature genetics

Recommended Citation

Norman, P. J., Abi-Rached, L., Gendzekhadze, K., Korbel, D., Gleimer, M., Rowley, D., ... & Parham, P. (2007). Unusual selection on the KIR3DL1/S1 natural killer cell receptor in Africans. Nature genetics, 39(9), 1092-1099.