Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M J Stear.
This paper describes the detection of 13 lymphocyte antigens in sheep. The results obtained from family studies are consistent with the hypothesis that at least 12 antigens are under the control of a single genetic system. The distribution of antigens in the population suggests that the system contains two loci. The 13 antigens were compared with those previously reported. Only one additional specificity was found.
The results and agreements of the 1 international BoLA workshop, held in Edinburgh, Scotland in August 1978, are reported. Most of these concern the results from a comparison test of 249 alloantisera to bovine lymphocytes, the antisera being contributed by 9 laboratories. These sera were compared directly in Edinburgh on a panel of lymphocytes from 130 cattle of 21 breeds. In the microlymphocytotoxicity test used 75% of the sera reacted. Sixty eight of these sera were grouped into clusters according to their reaction patterns against the lymphocyte panel. Eleven of these clusters were clearly defined and were given workshop BoLA designations. In addition 22 sera were assigned to subgroups of the agreed clusters. There was no evidence that the method of production of the sera had any effect on their specificity. Although genetic data was not available, the phenotypes of the test panel of lymphocytes are consistent with the clusters detecting antigens controlled by multiple alleles at a single autosomal locus. It was agreed to name the genetic region where this putative locus is located BoLA (bovine lymphocyte antigen).
A comparison of lymphocyte antigens showed that 32 of the 33 BoLA antigens defined at the third international BoLA workshop (Bull et al., 1989) corresponded to previously defined local antigens (Stear et al., 1988). The third workshop antigen w18 had no locally defined equivalent. All 32 antigens were shown in family studies to be expressed by autosomal co-dominant genes, and all 32 workshop antigens were shown to be products of the BoLA system. After excluding the supertypic antigens, nearly all animals tested possessed only one or two antigens and there were no observed recombinants in family studies. These results do not exclude the possibility that the 32 workshop antigens are the products of one locus (BoLA-A).