THE GENETIC CONTROL OF ANTIBODY SPECIFICITY

Abstract
The immune response to a synthetic polypeptide built on multichain polyproline, poly-L-(Tyr,Glu)-poly-L-Pro-poly-L-Lys [(T,G)-Pro--L], in the offspring of a cross between DBA/1 and SJL mice is under a genetic control superficially similar to the one operating for the immune response to a similar synthetic polypeptide built on multichain polyalanine, poly-L-(Tyr,Glu)-poly-D,L-Ala-poly-L-Lys [(T,G)-A--L], in the offspring of a cross between CBA and C57 mice. In both cases, the genetic control is a quantitative trait in which the major gene(s) is (are) dominant and the trait is not linked to any of the known structural genes coding for mouse immunoglobulin heavy chains. However, the genetic control of response to (T, G)-Pro--L, designated immune response-3 (Ir-3), is qualitatively different from the one operating for (T,G)-A--L [immune response-1 (Ir-1)] in that it is not linked to the histocompatibility-2 (H-2) locus.