title: A map of the human immunoglobulin VH locus completed by analysis of the telomeric region of chromosome 14q.
abstract: Analysis of the telomeric region of chromosome 14q has enabled us to complete a map of the immunoglobulin VH locus which accounts for almost all VH segments known to rearrange in B-lymphocytes. The human germline VH repertoire consists of approximately 50 functional VH segments--the exact number depending on the haplotype--spanning 1,100 kilobases upstream of the JH segments. A yeast artificial chromosome used to map these segments was isolated by its ability to provide telomere activity in yeast, suggesting that the VH locus may be located within a few kilobases of the 14q telomere. The limited structural diversity encoded by the functional VH segments demonstrates the importance of combinatorial diversity produced by VDJ joining and the association of heavy and light chains in producing the human antibody repertoire.
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, MRC Centre for Protein Engineering, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Riethman
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Buluwela
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Rabbitts
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000916:Antibody Diversity; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D018244:Chromosomes, Artificial, Yeast; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D002898:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D004247:DNA