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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Med Primatol. 2010 Aug;39(4):194–212. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0684.2010.00432.x

Figure 7. Origin of KIR gene families in cattle and simian primates.

Figure 7

Panel A: duplication of the ancestral KIR gene gave rise to founders of the KIR3DX and KIR3DL lineages. In the evolution of cattle, KIR3DX expanded and diversified while KIR3DL remained a single-copy gene. In the evolution of simian primates, KIR3DX remained a single gene while KIR3DL became a diverse gene family [76]. In addition to mice (Mus musculus domesticus), dog (Canis familiaris) and probably cat (Felis catus) have no KIR genes in the LRC [78] and pig (Sus scrofa) [121], seals (Phoca vitulina) and sea lions (Zalophus californianus) [78] have lost KIR3DX while retaining a single KIR3DL gene. Panel B: the organization of genes in the human Leukocyte Receptor Complex (LRC). Note that 3DX1 (originally called KIR3DL0 and a non-functional gene) [77]) is situated between the two groups of leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptors (LILR). The KIR gene content corresponds to that of the A haplotype [46].

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