title: The inheritance of individual antigenic specificities of rabbit antibodies to streptococcal carbohydrates.
abstract: The inheritance of individual antigenic specificities (IAS) of rabbit antibodies to the Group C streptococcal carbohydrate was demonstrated in a selectively bred rabbit family. The IAS of the antibodies from 3 proband rabbits were also observed in the Group C antibodies in as many as 7 out of 42 related rabbits, but in none of the Group C antibodies from 48 unrelated rabbits, Immunodiffusion analyses and quantitative radioprecipitin experiments revealed that this cross-specificity may be either partial or complete. Quantitative inhibition of the precipitin reaction between the proband antibody and its antiserum by preimmune IgG revealed 30-fold differences in the proportion of molecules with cross-specificity for the proband antibody. This proportion is higher in the preimmune IgG of the proband rabbit and of those relatives which produced cross-precipitating antibodies than it is in the IgG of rabbits which had the same group a allotype, but did not produce cross-precipitating antibodies. The proportion is much lower in the IgG of rabbits with a group a allotype different from that of the proband antibody. These data suggest that serologically detected individual antigenic specificities are inherited markers of immunoglobulins.
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000941:Antigens; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D002241:Carbohydrates; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D000939:Epitopes; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006385:Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D007122:Immunoelectrophoresis; D007125:Immunogenetics; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007178:Inbreeding; D007456:Iodine Isotopes; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D011817:Rabbits; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000941:Antigens; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D002241:Carbohydrates; D000939:Epitopes; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007456:Iodine Isotopes