title: Evolution of the IgA heavy chain gene in the genus Mus.
abstract: To examine questions of immunoglobulin gene evolution, the IgA alpha heavy chain gene from Mus pahari, an evolutionarily distant relative to Mus musculus domesticus, was cloned and sequenced. The sequence, when compared to the IgA gene of BALB/c or human, demonstrated that the IgA gene is evolving in a mosaic fashion with the hinge region accumulating mutations most rapidly and the third domain at a considerably lower frequency. In spite of this pronounced accumulation of mutations, the hinge region appears to maintain the conformation of a random coil. A marked propensity to accumulate replacement over silent site changes in the coding regions was noted, as was a definite codon bias. The possibility that these two phenomena are interrelated is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Osborne
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Golde
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rudikoff
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003062:Codon; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007137:Immunoglobulin alpha-Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007137:Immunoglobulin alpha-Chains; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes