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Free keywords:
Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Great apes, NetMHCpan, Major histocompatibility complex
Abstract:
The highly polymorphic genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I are involved in defense against viruses and other intracellular pathogens. Although several studies found reduced MHC class I diversity in bonobos in comparison to the closely related chimpanzee, it is unclear if this lower diversity also influences the functional ability of MHC class I molecules in bonobos. Here, we use a bioinformatic approach to analyze the viral peptide binding ability of all published bonobo MHC class I molecules (n =þinspace}58) in comparison to all published chimpanzee MHC class I molecules (n ={þinspace161) for the class I loci A, B, C and A-like.