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Molecular analysis of recombination sites within the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus of the rabbit

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Abstract

Previously, recombinations involving genes of the rabbit immunoglobulin heavy chain locus have been documented serologically. These data indicated that the sites at which the causative recombination events occurred could have been anywhere from within the V H gene cluster up to, or 3′ of, Cμ. Since these sites could not be localized further by serological methods, we attempted to do this using techniques of molecular biology. DNAs from homozygous recombinant rabbits and from the appropriate non-recombinant parental haplotypes were characterized using Southern blots hybridized with a panel of probes derived from cloned regions of the rabbit immunoglobulin heavy chain gene complex. In all three recombinants, the site was downstream of the entireV H cluster and upstream of the J Hcluster within an ∼50 kilobase (kb) egion containing expanses of repetitive-sequence DNA as well as D H genes. D H-specific probes further showed that in two of the recombinants, the recombination appears to have occurred within or 5′ of D H1 and 5′ of D H2 genes; in the third it occurred 3′ of the D H2 genes but at least ∼5 kb 5′ of the J H region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 20892, Bethesda, MD, USA

    B. A. Newman, G. O. Young-Cooper, Cornelius B. Alexander & R. G. Mage

  2. Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University of Chicago, 60153, Maywood, IL, USA

    R. S. Becker & K. L. Knight

  3. Basel Institute for Immunology, Basel, Switzerland

    A. S. Kelus & D. Meier

Authors
  1. B. A. Newman
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  2. G. O. Young-Cooper
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  3. Cornelius B. Alexander
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  4. R. S. Becker
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  5. K. L. Knight
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  6. A. S. Kelus
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  7. D. Meier
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  8. R. G. Mage
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Address for correspondence and offprint request to: R. G. Mage.

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Newman, B.A., Young-Cooper, G.O., Alexander, C.B. et al. Molecular analysis of recombination sites within the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus of the rabbit. Immunogenetics 34, 101–109 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00211422

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00211422

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