Rabbit immunoglobulin kappa genes: structure of a germline b4 allotype J-C locus and evidence for several b4-related sequences in the rabbit genome.

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Abstract
To investigate the genetic mechanism by which certain rabbits can express Ig unexpected on the basis of their pedigree (i.e., latent allotypes), study of the rabbit Ig .kappa. gene locus was begun. Here, the structure is reported of a germline genomic clone that encodes the b4 allotype of rabbit .kappa. Ig and corresponds to the .kappa. gene expressed by the rabbit-mouse hybridoma 12F2. The nucleotide sequences of the joining (J) and constant (C) regions reveal structures generally similar to the homologous mouse and human loci, although only 1 of the 5 J-like sequences of this rabbit gene is apparently expressed. Southern blotting analysis of DNA from several rabbit allotypic strains by using probes derived from the cloned b4 gene demonstrates that, in contrast to mouse and human, rabbits possess multiple .kappa.-related sequences. Rabbits of the nominal b4, b5, b6 and b9 allotypes each contain at least two b4-related sequences that are associated with their own J regions and that are highly homologous to the cloned b4 gene in both coding and flanking regions.