title: The repertoire of human germline VH sequences reveals about fifty groups of VH segments with different hypervariable loops.
abstract: We have used the polymerase chain reaction and VH family-based primers to clone and sequence 74 human germline VH segments from a single individual and built a directory to include all known germline sequences. The directory contains 122 VH segments with different nucleotide sequences, 83 of which have open reading frames. The directory indicates that the structural diversity of the germline repertoire for antigen binding is fixed by about 50 groups of VH segments: each group encodes identical hypervariable loops. The directory should help in mapping the VH locus, in estimating somatic mutation and VH segment usage and in designing and constructing synthetic antibody libraries.
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Protein Engineering, Cambridge, U.K.
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Llewelyn
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winter
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015723:Gene Library; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain / Q000235:genetics; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes