title: Immunoglobulin genomics in the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster).
abstract: In science, the prairie voles are ideal models for studying the regulatory mechanisms of social behavior in humans. The utility of the prairie vole as a biology model can be further enhanced by characterization of the genes encoding components of the immune system. Here, we report the genomic organization of the prairie vole immunoglobulin heavy and light chain genes. The prairie vole IgH locus on chromosome 1 spans over 1600kb, and consists of at least 79 VH segments (28 potentially functional genes, 2 ORFs and 49 pseudogenes), 7 DH segments, 4 JH segments, four constant region genes (μ, γ, ɛ, and α), and two transmembrane regions of δ gene. The Igκ locus, found on three scaffolds (JH996430, JH996605 and JH996566), contains a totle of 124 Vκ segments (47 potentially functional genes, 1 ORF and 76 pseudogenes), 5 Jκ segments and a single Cκ gene. Two different transcriptional orientations were determined for these Vκ gene segments. In contrast, the Igλ locus on scaffold JH996473 and JH996489 includes 21 Vλ gene segments (14 potentially functional genes, 1 ORF and 6 pseudogenes), all with the same transcriptional polarity as the downstream Jλ-Cλ cluster. Phylogenetic analysis and sequence alignments suggested the prairie vole's large germline VH, Vκ and Vλ gene segments appear to form limited gene families. Therefore, this species may generate antibody diversity via a gene conversion-like mechanism associated with its pseudogene reserves.
authors.affiliation: Embryo Biotechnology and Reproduction Laboratory, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China. Electronic address: qintong@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Huijing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Embryo Biotechnology and Reproduction Laboratory, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Huabin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Embryo Biotechnology and Reproduction Laboratory, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Embryo Biotechnology and Reproduction Laboratory, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Embryo Biotechnology and Reproduction Laboratory, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Haisheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D050438:Genes, Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain; D050439:Genes, Immunoglobulin Light Chain; D056426:Genetic Loci; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment
keywords: Immunoglobulin heavy chain; Immunoglobulin light chain; Prairie vole