The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC) is a leading Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) typing lab that focuses on monkeys. While many scientists are familiar with the importance of characterizing the histocompatibility region of the human genome for applications like disease research or tissue typing before organ transplantation, fewer are aware of the need to accurately type this region in non-human primates. At the primate research lab, part of the University of Wisconsin- Madison, scientists are analyzing immune regions to help test potential HIV vaccines and AIDS therapies. Their work is essential for understanding the effects of treatment ahead of…
The macaque simian or simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SIV/SHIV) challenge model has been widely used to inform and guide human vaccine trials. Substantial advances have been made recently in the application of repeated-low-dose challenge (RLD) approach to assess SIV/SHIV vaccine efficacies (VE). Some candidate HIV vaccines have shown protective effects in preclinical studies using the macaque SIV/SHIV model but the model’s true predictive value for screening potential HIV vaccine candidates needs to be evaluated further. Here, we review key parameters used in the RLD approach and discuss their relevance for evaluating VE to improve preclinical studies of candidate HIV vaccines.Crown Copyright…
MHC-E is a highly conserved nonclassical MHC class Ib molecule that predominantly binds and presents MHC class Ia leader sequence-derived peptides for NK cell regulation. However, MHC-E also binds pathogen-derived peptide Ags for presentation to CD8+ T cells. Given this role in adaptive immunity and its highly monomorphic nature in the human population, HLA-E is an attractive target for novel vaccine and immunotherapeutic modalities. Development of HLA-E-targeted therapies will require a physiologically relevant animal model that recapitulates HLA-E-restricted T cell biology. In this study, we investigated MHC-E immunobiology in two common nonhuman primate species, Indian-origin rhesus macaques (RM) and Mauritian-origin…
Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology with the Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) RS II platform offers the potential to obtain full-length coding regions (~1100-bp) from MHC class I cDNAs. Despite the relatively high error rate associated with SMRT technology, high quality sequences can be obtained by circular consensus sequencing (CCS) due to the random nature of the error profile. In the present study we first validated the ability of SMRT-CCS to accurately identify class I transcripts in Mauritian-origin cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) that have been characterized previously by cloning and Sanger-based sequencing as well as pyrosequencing approaches. We then applied this SMRT-CCS…
Very little is currently known about the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region of cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis; Mafa) from Chinese breeding centers. We performed comprehensive MHC class I haplotype analysis of 100 cynomolgus macaques from two different centers, with animals from different reported original geographic origins (Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Cambodian/Indonesian mixed-origin). Many of the samples were of known relation to each other (sire, dam, and progeny sets), making it possible to characterize lineage-level haplotypes in these animals. We identified 52 Mafa-A and 74 Mafa-B haplotypes in this cohort, many of which were restricted to specific sample origins. We also characterized…
The killer-cell Ig-like receptors (KIRs) play a central role in the immune recognition in infection, pregnancy, and transplantation through their interactions with MHC class I molecules. KIR genes display abundant copy number variation as well as high levels of polymorphism. As a result, it is challenging to characterize this structurally dynamic region. KIR haplotypes have been analyzed in different species using conventional characterization methods, such as Sanger sequencing and Roche/454 pyrosequencing. However, these methods are time-consuming and often failed to define complete haplotypes, or do not reach allele-level resolution. In addition, most analyses were performed on genomic DNA, and thus…
Enterococcus faecalis is a common opportunistic pathogen that colonizes cephalic recording chambers (CRCs) of macaques used in cognitive neuroscience research. We previously characterized 15 E. faecalis strains isolated from macaques at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2011. The goal of this study was to examine how a 2014 protocol change prohibiting the use of antimicrobials within CRCs affected colonizing E. faecalis strains. We collected 20 E. faecalis isolates from 10 macaques between 2013 and 2017 for comparison to 4 isolates previously characterized in 2011 with respect to the sequence type (ST) distribution, antimicrobial resistance, biofilm formation, and changes…
Nonhuman primates are commonly used for cognitive neuroscience research and often surgically implanted with cephalic recording chambers for electrophysiological recording. Aerobic bacterial cultures from 25 macaques identified 72 bacterial isolates, including 15 Enterococcus faecalis isolates. The E. faecalis isolates displayed multi-drug resistant phenotypes, with resistance to ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, bacitracin, and erythromycin, as well as high-level aminoglycoside resistance. Multi-locus sequence typing showed that most belonged to two E. faecalis sequence types (ST): ST 4 and ST 55. The genomes of three representative isolates were sequenced to identify genes encoding antimicrobial resistances and other traits. Antimicrobial resistance genes identified…
We report the complete nucleotide sequence and characterization of a small cryptic plasmid of Moraxella macacae 0408225, a newly described bacterial species within the family Moraxellaceae and a causative agent of epistaxis in macaques. The complete nucleotide sequence of the plasmid pMoma1 was determined and found to be 5,375 bp in size with a GC content of 37.4 %. Computer analysis of the sequence data revealed five open reading frames encoding putative proteins of 54.4 kDa (ORF1), 17.6 kDa (ORF2), 13.3 kDa (ORF3), 51.6 kDa (ORF4), and 25.0 kDa (ORF5). ORF1, ORF2, and ORF3 encode putative proteins with high identity…
Lymphocryptoviruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) cause persistent infections in human and non-human primates, and suppression of the immune system can increase the risk of lymphocryptovirus (LCV)-associated tumor development in both human and non-human primates. To enable LCV infection as a non-clinical model to study effects of therapeutics on EBV immunity, we determined the genomic DNA sequence of the LCV from cynomolgus macaque, a species commonly used for non-clinical testing. Comparison to rhesus macaque LCV and human EBV sequences indicates that LCV from the cynomolgus macaque has the same genomic arrangement and a high degree of similarity in most genes,…
Moraxella macacae is a recently described bacterial species that has been associated with at least two outbreaks of epistaxis in macaques. Here we present the first genome sequence of this novel species, isolated from a symptomatic cynomolgus macaque at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
The evolutionary dynamics of repeat sequences is quite complex, with some duplicates never having differentiated from each other. Two models can explain the complex evolutionary process for repeated genes—concerted and birth-and-death, of which the latter is driven by duplications maintained by selection. Copy number variations caused by random duplications and losses in repeat regions may modulate molecular pathways and therefore affect phenotypic characteristics in a population, resulting in individuals that are able to adapt to new environments. In this study, we investigated the filaggrin gene (FLG), which codes for filaggrin—an important component of the outer layers of mammalian skin—and contains…
Mycobacterium kansasii is a nontuberculous mycobacterium. It causes opportunistic infections with pulmonary and extrapulmonary manifestations. We report here the complete genome sequences of two M. kansasii strains isolated from rhesus macaques. We performed genome comparisons with human and environmental isolates of M. kansasii to assess the genomic diversity of this species. Copyright © 2017 Panda et al.