Re: [asa] MHC and Horizontal Gene Transfer

As variation in the MHC is an important component of immune defense,
there is very strong selection for mutations to become established.
It is unreasonable to expect it to match up with a molecular clock
based on some DNA region undergoing less pressure to evolve variation
(not to mention the serious problems in many molecular clocks such as
ignoring uncertainties in parts of the data, inadequate calibration,
and failure to demonstrate that evolution of the region of interest
was clocklike).

Depending on the functional constraints on its evolution, parallel
evolution of alleles in different primates might be likely.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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