Molecular limitations on variable-gene junctional diversity
Wysocki, L.J.; Manser, T.; Gridley, T.; Gefter, M.L.
Journal of Immunology 137(12): 3699-3701
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-1767 PMID: 3097129 Document Number: 269819
To evaluate in vivo the predictions of the hypothesis that antibody diversity is attributable, in part, to the presence of sequences coding for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase activity at the junctions of the VH-Dsuperscript 3 and D-JH segments, the junctional sequences of a large panel of monoclonal antibodies encoded by a single VH gene segment from a mouse hybridoma were analysed. The results do not support the simple model of guanine/cytosine-biased de novo addition by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase; they indicate that alternative mechanisms may also generate junctional sequences in a more sequence-specific manner in vivo, and that the expressed V-region repertoire in the virgin immune system may not greatly exceed the population size of B cells in animals of homozygous V-gene constitution.