Abstract
Rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain joining region (J H ) genes occur in some T lymphocytes, probably because the mechanism for assembly of T-cell receptor encoded genes is very similar to that for immunoglobulins. Two such rearrangements described previously represented proper fusion of a D H and J H gene. We have cloned and analyzed the JH rearrangements found on both alleles in the T lymphoma ST4. One represents conventional recombination between a member of the SP2 D H family and J H3 . On the other allele, JH4 has recombined with a sequence within the D H locus but not at a D H gene. This recombination involved the heptamer but not the nonamer of the bipartite recognition signal required for D H -J H joining. This result suggests that the heptamer may be the primary determinant of the specificity in V-gene assembly and that the D H locus as a whole may be a preferred target for recombination.
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Gerondakis, S., Bernard, O., Cory, S. et al. Immunoglobulin JH rearrangement in a T-cell line reflects fusion to the D H locus at a sequence lacking the nonamer recognition signal. Immunogenetics 28, 255–259 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00345502
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00345502