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On the genomics of immunoglobulins in the gray, short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica

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Abstract

Annotated maps of the IGH, IGK, and IGL loci in the gray, short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica were generated from analyses of the available whole genome sequence for this species. Analyses of their content and organization confirmed a number of previous conclusions based on characterization of complementary DNAs encoding opossum immunoglobulin heavy and light chains and limited genomic analysis, including (a) the predominance of a single immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IGHV) subgroup and clan, (b) the presence of a single immunoglobulin (Ig)G subclass, (c) the apparent absence of an IgD, and (d) the general organization and V gene complexity of the IGK and IGL light chain loci. In addition, several unexpected discoveries were made including the presence of a partial V to D, germline-joined IGHV segment, the first germline-joined Ig V gene to be found in a mammal. In addition was the presence of a larger number of IGKV subgroups than had been previously identified. With this report, annotated maps of the major histocompatibility complex, T-cell receptor, and immunoglobulin loci have been completed for M. domestica, the only non-eutherian mammalian species for which this has been accomplished, strengthening the utility of this species as a model organism.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation award IOS-0641382 and a National Institutes of Health Institutional Development Award supporting the Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology’s core molecular biology facility. The authors also wish to thank Joseph Volpe and Thomas Kepler at Duke University for their willingness to include the opossum germline gene segments at the SoDA website, making analysis of antibody diversity publicly available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Center for Evolutionary & Theoretical Immunology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Xinxin Wang, Jonathan J. Olp & Robert D. Miller

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  1. Xinxin Wang
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Correspondence to Robert D. Miller.

Electronic supplementary material

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Supplementary Table 1

Locations of IGH gene segments in the MonDom5 assembly (DOC 204 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Locations of IGK gene segments in the MonDom5 assembly (DOC 264 kb)

Supplementary Table 3

Locations of IGL gene segments in the MonDom5 assembly (DOC 202 kb)

Supplementary Figure 1

(PPT 53 kb)

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Wang, X., Olp, J.J. & Miller, R.D. On the genomics of immunoglobulins in the gray, short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica . Immunogenetics 61, 581–596 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-009-0385-8

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