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Duplications and deletions of Vh genes in inbred strains of mice

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Abstract

evolution of variable region (Vh) gene family copy number and polymorphism was investigated by the analysis of the immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (Igh-V) locus in 74 inbred strains and substrains of mice. Several strains were found to have slight differences from Igh-V haplotypes previously identified, usually of a single Vh gene family. These results indicate that the evolution of copy number in the mouse Igh-V locus proceeds largely by the accumulation of incremental changes, reflecting the clustered organization of the mouse Igh-V locus. We have found no evidence of very large or frequent duplication or deletion events indicative of rapid expansion or contraction processes. The existence of one or more particularly large Vh gene families most likely reflects random copy number variation, rather than selection for the amplification of their members. The identification of strains with recombinant Vh gene arrays demonstrates that recombination, both within and between haplotypes, appears to be the predominant mechanism generating the high restriction fragment length polymorphism in the Igh-V locus.

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Abbreviations

Igh-V :

immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region locus

Vh :

heavy chain variable region gene

Dh :

heavy chain diversity region gene

V κ :

immunoglobulin kappa light chain variable region gene

V β :

T-cell receptor beta chain variable region gene

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Biology Institute, 11077 North Torrey Pines Road, 92037, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Adele Tutte & Roy Riblet

  2. University of Pennsylvania, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Adele Tutte

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  1. Adele Tutte
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  2. Roy Riblet
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Tutte, A., Riblet, R. Duplications and deletions of Vh genes in inbred strains of mice. Immunogenetics 28, 125–135 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346160

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346160

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