Sequence-based typing reveals a novel DLA-88 allele, DLA-88*04501, in a beagle family

The dog is an important animal model for solid organ as well as stem cell allo transplantation. Methods such as cellular and serological typing and more recently sequence-based typing (SBT) have been used to discriminate tissue antigen disparity of donor and recipient. We applied SBT for the canine class I (DLA-88) and class II (DLA-DRB1) genes in beagle families prior stem cell transplantation. A novel DLA-88 (DLA-88*04501) allele in combination with a DLA-DRB1*01901 allele was found. Sequence comparison of exons 2 and 3 of the novel allele revealed most sequence identity to the DLA-88*01301 allele (96.15% identity at the nucleotide and 90.65% identity at the protein level).