Transposon-mediated death of an ancestral A-23-like allele: evolution of TCR-positioning motifs in the HLA-A lineage

HLA-A alleles are characterized by tandem arginine and histidine/arginine motifs (i.e., R65 and H151R motifs) present on the α1- and α2-helix, respectively. In crystallographic structures, α/β T-cell receptors (TCR) contact both motifs and appear to be geometrically positioned for alloreactivity. Herein, bioinformatics of “dual-motif” MHC A-like alleles were investigated across phylogeny. While A-like alleles with the R65 motif are widespread, the H151R motif has segregated out of most species. Surprisingly, an uncharacterized orf in tarsiers ( Loc-103275158 ) encodes R151 within a truncated A-23-like gene, which is in frame with short footprints of Tc5 and Tigger transposons (TE); the extant tarsier A-23 allele is totally missing exon-3 and part of exon-4; together, suggesting TE-mediated inactivation of an intact/ancestral A-23 allele. Since the only other (non-human) dual-motif A-like alleles are in gorilla, chimpanzee, and the Florida manatee, we speculate that dual-motif A alleles first emerged in the Afrotherian lineage and reappeared during the evolution of higher primates.