Skip to main content
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1989 Dec 1;170(6):1811–1823. doi: 10.1084/jem.170.6.1811

Analysis of a novel VHS107 haplotype in CLA-2 and WSA mice. Evidence for gene conversion among IgVH genes in outbred populations

PMCID: PMC2189536  PMID: 2584925

Abstract

Gene conversion has been suggested as the basis for many VH allelic differences, particularly in the murine VHS107 family. Whether conversion among IgVH genes is likely to have occurred in outbred populations has not been directly addressed. The CLA-2/Cn and WSA strains, which were recently and independently derived from a feral population exhibiting low responsiveness to PC, provide the opportunity to approach this question. In previous studies, the heavy chain cDNA sequence of a PC-specific hybridoma derived from CLA-2/Cn suggested gene conversion events within the VHS107 family. Accordingly, we have examined the germline VHS107 genes of CLA-2/Cn and WSA. The results indicate that: (a) The CLA-2 and WSA strains bear an identical but novel VHS107 family haplotype, which lacks a V3 element and contains a V1, a V13, and two V11 genes; (b) low PC responsiveness in these populations is unlikely due to an inability to express the V1 member of the VHS107 gene family; and (c) when compared with the other known VHS107 haplotypes, the proportion of differences consistent with gene conversion greatly exceeds that expected by random base substitution. Thus, gene conversion events appear to have occurred with considerable frequency in the evolution of the murine VHS107 family, especially among the V3, V13, and V11 members.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (894.7 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Akimenko M. A., Mariamé B., Rougeon F. Evolution of the immunoglobulin kappa light chain locus in the rabbit: evidence for differential gene conversion events. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Jul;83(14):5180–5183. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.14.5180. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bentley D. L., Rabbitts T. H. Evolution of immunoglobulin V genes: evidence indicating that recently duplicated human V kappa sequences have diverged by gene conversion. Cell. 1983 Jan;32(1):181–189. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90508-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clarke S. H., Claflin J. L., Rudikoff S. Polymorphism in immunoglobulin heavy chains suggesting gene conversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 May;79(10):3280–3284. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.10.3280. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Crews S., Griffin J., Huang H., Calame K., Hood L. A single VH gene segment encodes the immune response to phosphorylcholine: somatic mutation is correlated with the class of the antibody. Cell. 1981 Jul;25(1):59–66. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90231-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. D'Hoostelaere L. A., Potter M. Igk polymorphism in M. musculus domesticus populations from Maryland and Delaware. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 1986;127:175–185. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-71304-0_21. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Feinberg A. P., Vogelstein B. A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal Biochem. 1983 Jul 1;132(1):6–13. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(83)90418-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ferguson S. E., Rudikoff S., Osborne B. A. Interaction and sequence diversity among T15 VH genes in CBA/J mice. J Exp Med. 1988 Oct 1;168(4):1339–1349. doi: 10.1084/jem.168.4.1339. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hilbert D. M., Cancro M. P. Characterization of an inbred mouse exhibiting low responsiveness to phosphorylcholine. Antibodies from low-responder mice suggest gene conversion events within the S107VH gene family. J Immunol. 1988 Jun 15;140(12):4364–4371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Krawinkel U., Zoebelein G., Brüggemann M., Radbruch A., Rajewsky K. Recombination between antibody heavy chain variable-region genes: evidence for gene conversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Aug;80(16):4997–5001. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.16.4997. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lieberman R., D'Hoostelaere L. A., Humphrey W., Jr, Nishinarita S., Potter M. An allotype linked gene that is associated with a negative or very low anti-phosphorylcholine response (PC) phenotype in wild mice (CNV). J Immunol. 1983 Sep;131(3):1570–1575. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Liou H. C., Polla B. S., Aragnol D., Leserman L. D., Griffith I. J., Glimcher L. H. A tissue-specific DNase I-hypersensitive site in a class II A alpha gene is under trans-regulatory control. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Apr;85(8):2738–2742. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.8.2738. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Liskay R. M., Letsou A., Stachelek J. L. Homology requirement for efficient gene conversion between duplicated chromosomal sequences in mammalian cells. Genetics. 1987 Jan;115(1):161–167. doi: 10.1093/genetics/115.1.161. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Messing J. New M13 vectors for cloning. Methods Enzymol. 1983;101:20–78. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)01005-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Perlmutter R. M., Berson B., Griffin J. A., Hood L. Diversity in the germline antibody repertoire. Molecular evolution of the T15 VN gene family. J Exp Med. 1985 Dec 1;162(6):1998–2016. doi: 10.1084/jem.162.6.1998. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Reynaud C. A., Anquez V., Grimal H., Weill J. C. A hyperconversion mechanism generates the chicken light chain preimmune repertoire. Cell. 1987 Feb 13;48(3):379–388. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90189-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rudikoff S. Immunoglobulin structure--function correlates: antigen binding and idiotypes. Contemp Top Mol Immunol. 1983;9:169–209. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4684-4517-6_6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Siu G., Springer E. A., Huang H. V., Hood L. E., Crews S. T. Structure of the T15 VH gene subfamily: identification of immunoglobulin gene promotor homologies. J Immunol. 1987 Jun 15;138(12):4466–4471. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Willems van Dijk K., Schroeder H. W., Jr, Perlmutter R. M., Milner E. C. Heterogeneity in the human Ig VH locus. J Immunol. 1989 Apr 1;142(7):2547–2554. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES