Figure 2. Four centromeric and two telomeric gene-content motifs combined with allelic variation diversifies KIR haplotypes.

The names of the centromeric (Cen) and telomeric (Tel) motifs are given at the left under the heading ‘Haplotype’. The structures of each of seven gene content haplotypes are indicated above each group of sequenced haplotypes that contained the respective motif. Gene names are given in boxes: colored gray for framework genes, red for Cen-A and Tel-A genes, blue for Cen-B and Tel-B genes, and green for genes found in both Cen-A and Cen-B. The gene 3LD1S1 is distinguished within each haplotype according to its respective motif residence as red or blue as are 2DS1 and 2DS4. Beneath each gene name are listed the respective allele number within each sequenced haplotype with pink color indicating newly discovered alleles. Yellow shading indicates that the gene/allele sequence was incomplete. Shown to the right is the source, either the cell line name or GenBank entry, for each haplotype. The haplotype names for each sequenced haplotype are based on the allele combination in the centromeric and telomeric gene motifs. For example, the haplotype AC011501 at the top of the table has the Cen-A1 and Tel-A1 motifs. It was assigned 001 for each of the allelic combinations comprising these motifs and has thus been designated cA01:001|tA01:001. Only two of the 27 haplotypes share identical allele content (cB01:001|tB01:002). Under the chart of haplotypes, the numbers of different alleles and allotypes for each KIR gene are given.