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A single major chromosomal region controls natural killer cell-like activity in rainbow trout

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Abstract

We report the identification of a single major chromosomal region controlling natural killer (NK) cell-like activity in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). A genetic map based on 484 AFLP and 39 microsatellite genotypes from 106 doubled haploid fish was constructed. These fish were produced by androgenesis from a hybrid of two clonal lines divergent in NK-like activity. NK-like activities for 75 of the doubled haploids were quantified by an in vitro chromium release assay utilizing 51Cr-labeled YAC-1 target cells. Composite interval mapping revealed a single major quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated with NK-like activity in this rainbow trout model. Genetic mapping revealed this QTL to also be unlinked to: fragmented MHC class I and MHC class II regions, the leukocyte receptor cluster, the natural killer cell enhancement factor (NKEF) gene, the RAG-1 gene, and two QTL associated with resistance to infectious pancreatic necrosis virus in rainbow trout. Collectively, these results extend the utility of rainbow trout as an immunological model and are consistent with the idea that a single chromosomal region homologous to the natural killer cell complex (NKC) located on syntenic portions of mouse chromosome (Chr) 6, human Chr 12, and rat Chr 4 may exist in a lower vertebrate model.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Richard Dixon, Paul Wheeler and Steve Patton for their help rearing and sampling the fish used in this study. We also thank Richard Alldredge and Krista Nichols for their respective assistance with the statistical analysis of the NK-like cytotoxicity data and the QTL analysis data. We are grateful to Paul Bentzen, Bjorn Hoyheim, Yniv Palti, Todd Seamons and Takashi Sakamoto for providing primer sequence information for several of the microsatellites used in this study. This research was funded in part by a USDA grant awarded to both Sandra Ristow and Gary Thorgaard (USDA-CSREES 2001-34452-10326).

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  1. Anastasia M. Zimmerman

    Present address: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6332, USA

    Anastasia M. Zimmerman & Jason P. Evenhuis

  2. School of Biological Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4236, USA

    Gary H. Thorgaard

  3. Agricultural Research Center, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6240, USA

    Sandra S. Ristow

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  1. Anastasia M. Zimmerman
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  2. Jason P. Evenhuis
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  3. Gary H. Thorgaard
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  4. Sandra S. Ristow
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Correspondence to Sandra S. Ristow.

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Zimmerman, A.M., Evenhuis, J.P., Thorgaard, G.H. et al. A single major chromosomal region controls natural killer cell-like activity in rainbow trout. Immunogenetics 55, 825–835 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-004-0645-6

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