HLA-E coding and 3 ' untranslated region variability determined by next-generation sequencing in two West-African population samples Castelli, E. C. Mendes, C. T. Sabbagh, A. Porto, I. O. P. /Garcia, André Ramalho, J. Lima, T. H. A. Massaro, J. D. Dias, F. C. Collares, C. V. A. /Jamonneau, Vincent /Bucheton, Bruno Camara, M. Donadi, E. A. West-African populations HLA-E Next-generation sequencing (NGS) Polymorphisms Haplotypes Non-classical HLA Africa HLA-E is a non-classical Human Leucocyte Antigen class I gene with immunomodulatory properties. Whereas HLA-E expression usually occurs at low levels, it is widely distributed amongst human tissues, has the ability to bind self and non-self antigens and to interact with NK cells and T lymphocytes, being important for immunosurveillance and also for fighting against infections. HLA-E is usually the most conserved locus among all class I genes. However, most of the previous studies evaluating HLA-E variability sequenced only a few exons or genotyped known polymorphisms. Here we report a strategy to evaluate HLA-E variability by next-generation sequencing (NGS) that might be used to other HLA loci and present the HLA-E haplotype diversity considering the segment encoding the entire HLA-E mRNA (including 5'UTR, introns and the 3'UTR) in two African population samples, Susu from Guinea-Conakry and Lobi from Burkina Faso. Our results indicate that (a) the HLA-E gene is indeed conserved, encoding mainly two different protein molecules; (b) Africans do present several unknown HLA-E alleles presenting synonymous mutations; (c) the HLA-E 3'UTR is quite polymorphic and (d) haplotypes in the HLA-E 3'UTR are in close association with HLA-E coding alleles. NGS has proved to be an important tool on data generation for future studies evaluating variability in non-classical MHC genes. 2015 text https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010066010 fdi:010066010 Castelli E. C., Mendes C. T., Sabbagh A., Porto I. O. P., Garcia André, Ramalho J., Lima T. H. A., Massaro J. D., Dias F. C., Collares C. V. A., Jamonneau Vincent, Bucheton Bruno, Camara M., Donadi E. A.. HLA-E coding and 3 ' untranslated region variability determined by next-generation sequencing in two West-African population samples. 2015, 76 (12), 945-953 EN GUINEE BURKINA FASO