READING WEEK – TUESDAY (VALENTINE’S DAY)
Ancestral and recombinant 16-locus HLA haplotypes in the Hutterites. (1999) Immunogenetics 49:p491
In which human mate selection appears to be determined by genetics afterall. This study was done using a small community (Hutterites) since carefully controlled human mate matching and observation would be unethical – at least without reality TV.
ABSTRACT: Prior studies in the Schmiedeleut Hutterites of South Dakota have demonstrated associations between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype matching and fetal loss (Ober et al. 1992) and mate preferences (Ober et al. 1997), as well as deficiencies of homozygotes for HLA haplotypes (Kostyu et al. 1993). These studies were based on the serologically-defined five-locus HLA-A, -C, -B, -DR, -DQ haplotype. To further elucidate the effects of specific major histocompatibility (MHC) loci or regions on fetal loss and mate choice, we genotyped a sample of Hutterites for 14 MHC loci by DNA or biochemical methods. Typing for additional loci in the HLA-A to HLA-DPB1 region increased the number of recognized Hutterite MHC haplotypes to 67, and further localized the site of crossover in 9 of 15 recombinant haplotypes. Hutterite MHC haplotype sequences are similar to those observed in outbred Caucasians, suggesting that the influence of HLA haplotypes on fetal loss and mating structure may be general.