Mouse Cμ heavy chain immunoglobulin gene segment contains three intervening sequences separating domains (original) (raw)

Nature volume 284, pages 452–455 (1980)Cite this article

Abstract

The IgM molecule is composed of subunits made up of two light chain and two heavy chain (μ) polypeptides. The μ chain is encoded by several gene segments—variable (V), joining (J) and constant (C_μ_)1,2. The C_μ_ gene segment is of particular interest for several reasons. First, the μ chain must exist in two very different environments—as an integral membrane protein in receptor IgM molecules (_μ_m) and as soluble serum protein in IgM molecules into the blood (μ_s). Second, the C_μ region in μ_s is composed of four homology units or domains (C_μ_1, C_μ_2, C_μ_3 and C_μ_4) of approximately 110 amino acid residues plus a C-terminal tail of 19 residues3,4. We asked two questions concerning the organisation of the C_μ gene segment. (1) Are the homology units separated by intervening DNA sequences as has been reported for α (ref. 5), _γ_1 (ref. 6) and _γ_2b (ref. 7) heavy chain genes? (2) Is the C-terminal tail separated from the C_μ_4 domain by an intervening DNA sequence? If so, DNA rearrangements or RNA splicing could generate hydrophilic and hydrophobic C-terminal tails for the _μ_s and μ_m polypeptides, respectively. We demonstrate here that intervening DNA sequences separate each of the four coding regions for C_μ domains, and that the coding regions for the C_μ_4 domain and the C-terminal tail are directly contiguous.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125
    K. Calame, P. Early, M. Davis, D. Livant & L. Hood
  2. Molecular Biology Institute, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, 90024
    J. Rogers & R. Wall

Authors

  1. K. Calame
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  2. J. Rogers
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  3. P. Early
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  4. M. Davis
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  5. D. Livant
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  6. R. Wall
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  7. L. Hood
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Calame, K., Rogers, J., Early, P. et al. Mouse Cμ heavy chain immunoglobulin gene segment contains three intervening sequences separating domains.Nature 284, 452–455 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/284452a0

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