Article
Pathogen burden, co-infection and major histocompatibility complex variability in the European badger (Meles meles).
Molecular ecology - 1 Oct 2014
Sin Yung Wa, Annavi Geetha, Dugdale Hannah L, Newman Chris, Burke Terry, MacDonald David W
Abstract excerpt
Pathogen-mediated selection is thought to maintain the extreme diversity in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, operating through the heterozygote advantage, rare-allele advantage and fluctuating selection mechanisms. Heterozygote advantage (i.e. recognizing and binding a wider range of antigens than homozygotes) is expected to be more detectable when multiple pathogens are considered...
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