ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2011
Cheetah paradigm revisited: MHC diversity in the world's largest free-ranging population.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 137 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improved high-throughput MHC typing for non-model species using long-read sequencing.Molecular ecology resources · 2022Pooled it
- Sexual selection explains more functional variation in the mammalian major histocompatibility complex than parasitism.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2013Pooled it
- Epigenetic Changes Associated With a Phenotypic Transition in Namibian Cheetahs.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Longitudinal detection and genetic characterization of feline coronavirus in a captive cheetah population.The Journal of general virology · 2026Article
- Over-Representation of Sperm-Associated Deleterious Mutations Across Wild and Ex Situ Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) Populations.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Genomic structural variation rescues a classic biological invader from a population bottleneck.Science advances · 2026Article
- Non-Invasive Sampling of Odours from Tiger (Panthera tigris) and Leopard (Panthera pardus) for Wildlife Conservation.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Genome Scans Reveal Species-Specific Selection in the Genus Lynx.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Inbreeding does not reduce major histocompatibility complex diversity in the banded mongoose.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Genetic Diversity and Selection ofGenes · 2025Article
- MHC Diversity Across Time and Space.Ecology and evolution · 2025Review
- Inferring the historical demography of southern African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) using Bayesian analyses of molecular genetic data.Genetics and molecular biology · 2025Article
- Diversity of selected toll-like receptor genes in cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Comparative genomics of the Leukocyte Receptor Complex in carnivores.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Genomic analyses show extremely perilous conservation status of African and Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- First Steps towards the Development of Epigenetic Biomarkers in Female Cheetahs (Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Chronic Stress-Related Gastroenteric Pathology in Cheetah: Relation between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors.Biology · 2022Review
- Evolutionary pressures rendered by animal husbandry practices for avian influenza viruses to adapt to humans.iScience · 2022Review
- Comparative Genomics of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of Felids.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Review
- Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
For more than two decades, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has been considered a paradigm of disease vulnerability associated with low genetic diversity, particularly at the immune genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Cheetahs have been used as a classic example in numerous conservation genetics textbooks as well as in many related scientific publications. However, earlier studies used methods with low resolution to quantify MHC diversity and/or small sample sizes. Furthermore, high disease susceptibility was reported only for captive cheetahs, whereas free-ranging cheetahs show no signs of infectious diseases and a good general health status. We examined whether the diversity at MHC class I and class II-DRB loci in 149 Namibian cheetahs was higher than previously reported using single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis, cloning, and sequencing. MHC genes were examined at the genomic and transcriptomic levels. We detected ten MHC class I and four class II-DRB alleles, of which nine MHC class I and all class II-DRB alleles were expressed. Phylogenetic analyses and individual genotypes suggested that the alleles belong to four MHC class I and three class II-DRB putative loci. Evidence of positive selection was detected in both MHC loci. Our study indicated that the low number of MHC class I alleles previously observed in cheetahs was due to a smaller sample size examined. On the other hand, the low number of MHC class II-DRB alleles previously observed in cheetahs was further confirmed. Compared with other mammalian species including felids, cheetahs showed low levels of MHC diversity, but this does not seem to influence the immunocompetence of free-ranging cheetahs in Namibia and contradicts the previous conclusion that the cheetah is a paradigm species of disease vulnerability.
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