title: Evolutionary relationship between human and mouse immunoglobulin kappa light chain variable region genes.
abstract: Similar to the Igh-V multigene family, the human or mouse Igk-V repertoire is a distorted continuum of homologous genes that may be grouped into families displaying greater than 80% nucleic acid sequence similarity among their members. Systematic interspecies sequence comparisons reveal that most human Igk-V gene families exhibit clear homology to mouse Igk-V families (sequence similarity generally greater than 74%). A hypothetical phylogenetic tree of Igk-V genes predicts that a minimum of seven Igk-V genes/families predate mammalian radiation. In two cases, several interrelated mouse Igk-V families exhibit phylogenetic equidistance with just one human Igk-V family, implying a more pronounced divergence for the elevated number of Igk-V gene families in the mouse. Mouse-human Igk-V comparisons, moreover, illustrate how expansion, contraction, and perhaps deletion of Igk-V gene families shape the Igk-V repertoire during mammalian evolution.
authors.affiliation: Institut d'Embryologie du CNRS et du Collège de France, Nogent-sur-Marne.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kroemer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Helmberg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernot
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Auffray
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kofler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D006801:Humans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics*; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D005810:Multigene Family; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains