Analysis of HLA class II allogenotyping in Australian Aborigines and Papua New Guinea populations

Abstract

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II allogenotyping has been applied to investigate the polymorphism of the DRB, DQB1, DQB2, DQA1, and DQA2 genes in Aborigines from the East Coast of Australia and in Melanesians from the Papua New Guinea North-East Coast and Highlands. Three new DR/DQ arrangements were observed, DRw14/DQB1-2b/DQA1-1a and DRw5Nauru/DQB1-3a/DQA1-2 (n Australian Aborigines), and DRw5Nauru/DQB1-1a/DQA1-1b (in Madang). DQA2 and DQB2 allogenotyping with TaqI and PstI digested genomic DNA revealed little polymorphism among the Papua New Guineans, with DQA2-Xa1 and DQB2-Xb1 the most common alleles in all the groups. However, the presence of DQA2-Xa2 in Papuans and Australian Aborigines reflects the degree of admixture with Caucasoids while the DQA2-Xa4 allele in Madang is probably a marker of Mongoloid origin.