Genetics of mouse antibodies. II. Recombination between VH genes and allotype.
The BAB/14 (BALB/c. C57BL/Ka-Ig-1b/HZ) congenic mouse strain was found to respond to (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl (NP)-chicken globulin immunization with nonheteroclitic anti-NP antibodies as does the BALB/c inbred partner strain. This is in contrast to the heteroclitic anti-NP response of the C57BL/Ka allotype donor strain and indicates that the allotype linked VH-NP gene was inherited with the VH-DEX gene from BALB/C rather than with the allotype genes from C57BL/Ka. This verifies the interpretation of BAB/14 as an immunoglobulin gene recombinant. Two recombinants between VH-DEX and Ig-1 allogype genes have been found among 554 chromosomes tested yielding a recombination frequency of 0.4%. Analysis of the BAB/14 recombinant showed that this crossover occurred between VH genes implying that VH genes and CH genes are not organized in separate clusters separated by a larger spacer region but are contiguous. Analysis of the recombination frequencies indicates that the total number of VH genes must be at least 50.
D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000235:genetics*; D001666:Binding Sites, Antibody / Q000235:genetics*; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D007126:Immunoglobulin Allotypes; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009578:Nitrobenzenes / Q000276:immunology; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
D000906:Antibodies; D007126:Immunoglobulin Allotypes; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D009578:Nitrobenzenes