Expression of immunoglobulin delta chain causes allelic exclusion in transgenic mice

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Abstract
Rearrangement of the separated V, D and J segments of immunoglobulin heavy and light chain genes is an ordered and regulated process essential for the production and diversification of antibodies in mammals1. Only one allele of the heavy and light chain gene locus is found functionally rearranged in normal B cells. The second allele is either non-functionally ,or incompletely rearranged, a phenomenon known as allelic exclusion. Recently, we2 and others3 have shown that expression of a rearranged μ gene introduced into the germline of mice leads to inhibition of rearrangement of endogenous heavy chain genes. It has been suggested that μ also exerts a positive influence on kappa light chain gene rearrangement4. Here we show that a functionally rearranged δ gene is also able to prevent endogenous heavy chain gene rearrangement and could promote κ light chain gene rearrangement.

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