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Structure of the catfish IGH locus: analysis of the region including the single functional IGHM gene

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Abstract

The catfish IGH locus is large (∼1 Mb) and complex, having undergone multiple internal duplications and transpositions. To define the structure of the locus that contains the single expressed IGHM gene, two overlapping bacterial-artificial-chromosome (BAC) clones spanning the most 3′ end of the channel catfish immunoglobulin heavy (IGH) chain locus have been completely sequenced. The analyses created a contig of 257,153 bp containing 55 VH, 6 D, 12 JH genes and the IGH constant region genes encoding the functional secreted and membrane forms of IgM and the membrane form of IgD. This analysis revealed three major features. First, no C-region genes were found aside from the previously described IGHM1 and IGHD1, with the latter gene being the most 3′ C-region gene of the catfish IGH locus. There was no evidence in the region sequenced for genes that could encode an Ig class similar to the IgZ/IgT described in zebrafish, trout and pufferfish. Second, there are a high number of VH pseudogenes, 28 out of 55 (51%). In contrast, the entire zebrafish IGH locus has 40 functional VH genes and eight pseudogenes (17%). Third, an internal duplication of a 52.4-kb block of VH genes has occurred. These observations suggest that the IGH locus of teleost fish varies significantly from species to species in the diversity of C-region genes as well as the numbers of genes encoding V regions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 AI19530 and R01 GM062317) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (2003-35205-12829). We thank Dr. Marie-Paule Lefranc for valuable comments concerning Ig nomenclature, Cecile Snell and Mary Duke for skillful technical assistance, and Deepak Nayak for assistance in analyzing the gene encoding the predicted unnamed protein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, 39216, USA

    E. Bengtén, N. W. Miller & M. Wilson

  2. Catfish Genetics Research Unit, ARS, USDA, 141 Experimental Station Road, Stoneville, MS, 38701, USA

    S. Quiniou & G. Waldbieser

  3. Marine Biomedicine and Environmental Sciences Center and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA

    J. Hikima & G. W. Warr

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  1. E. Bengtén
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  2. S. Quiniou
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  4. G. Waldbieser
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  6. N. W. Miller
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Correspondence to E. Bengtén.

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Bengtén, E., Quiniou, S., Hikima, J. et al. Structure of the catfish IGH locus: analysis of the region including the single functional IGHM gene. Immunogenetics 58, 831–844 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-006-0139-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-006-0139-9

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