High throughput <scp>HLA</scp> genotyping using 454 sequencing and the Fluidigm Access Array™ system for simplified amplicon library preparation

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II loci are the most polymorphic genes in the human genome; distinguishing the thousands of HLA alleles is challenging. Next generation sequencing of exonic amplicons with the 454 genome sequence (GS) FLX System and Conexio Assign ATF 454 software provides high resolution, high throughput HLA genotyping for eight class I and class II loci. HLA typing of potential donors for unrelated bone marrow donor registries typically uses a subset of these loci at high sample throughput and low cost per sample. The Fluidigm Access Array System enables the incorporation of 48 different multiplex identifiers (MIDs) corresponding to 48 genomic DNA samples with up to 48 different primer pairs in a microfluidic device generating 2304 parallel polymerase chain reactions (PCRs). Minimal volumes of reagents are used. During genomic PCR, in this 4-primer system, the outer set of primers containing the MID and the 454 adaptor sequences are incorporated into an amplicon generated by the inner HLA target-specific primers each containing a common sequence tag at the 5' end of the forward and reverse primers. Pools of the resulting amplicons are used for emulsion PCR and clonal sequencing on the 454 Life Sciences GS FLX System, followed by genotyping with Conexio software. We have genotyped 192 samples with 100% concordance to known genotypes using 8 primer pairs (covering exons 2 and 3 of HLA-A, B and C, and exon 2 of DRB1, 3/4/5 and DQB1) and 96 MIDs in a single GS FLX run. An average of 166 reads per amplicon was obtained. We have also genotyped 96 samples at high resolution (14 primer pairs covering exons 2, 3, and 4 of the class I loci and exons 2 of DRB1, 3/4/5, DQA1, DQB1, DPB1, and exon 3 of DQB1), recovering an average of 173 sequence reads per amplicon.