RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHIMPANZEE RH-LIKE GENES AND THE R-C-E-F BLOOD-GROUP SYSTEM

The antigenic closeness between the chimpanzee alloantigen R(c) of the R-C-E-F system, and the human alloantigen Rh(o)(D) suggests a phylogeconnection between their genes. To confirm at the molecular level the common origin of these genes, genomic DNA from 16 unrelated chimpanzees of various R-C-E-F phenotypes were digested by three restriction enzymes and analyzed by Southern blot using a human Rh cDNA probe and three exon-specific probes. Restrictions profiles displayed reach polymorphism. Correlations between some bands and certain R-C-E-F phenotypes demonstrate that the human Rh cDNA probe defines in chimpanzee genomic DNA some genes of the R-C-E-F system.