title: The little brown bat, M. lucifugus, displays a highly diverse V H, D H and J H repertoire but little evidence of somatic hypermutation.
abstract: Myotis lucifugus populations in Northeastern US are being decimated by a fungal disease. Since almost nothing is known about the immune system of bats, we are characterizing the immunoglobulin genes of bats. We show that M. lucifugus has a diverse V(H) gene repertoire comprised of five of the seven human V(H) gene families and an estimated 236V(H)3 genes. 95% of these germline VH3 genes differ in FR3. A comparison of 67 expressed V(H)3 genes with 75 germline V(H)3 genes revealed a mutation frequency similar to fetal piglets never exposed to environmental antigens. Analysis of CDR3 regions identified at least 13 putative J(H) segments and a large D(H) repertoire. The low mutation frequency, highly diverse V(H), D(H), and J(H) germline repertoire suggests that this species may rely more on combinatorial and junctional diversity than on somatic hypermutation raising questions about the ability of M. lucifugus to respond rapidly to emerging pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, River Falls, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bratsch
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wertz
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chaloner
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kunz
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Butler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000916:Antibody Diversity; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D027041:Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains