The NK complex spans a region of approximately 4.7 mB in which several genes are present, including the multigene families Nkg2 and Ly49. Although Ly49E is a member of the Ly49 family, it was unlikely that Ly49E is responsible for the observed increased cerebral malaria incidence in congenic BALB.B6-Cmv1r mice as, in contrast to the extensive allelic polymorphism of other Ly49 genes, Ly49e is highly conserved between mouse strains, and also has an identical sequence in C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice [40]. Here, KLRA1P is linked to cerebral malaria.