Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 87, pp. 811-815, January 1990 Immunology

Complete nucleotide sequence of an immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene and analysis of immunoglobulin gene organization in a primitive teleost species [heavy-chain variable region (VH)/pseudogene/field-inversion gel electrophoresis/VH family]

CHRIS T. AMEMIYA

AND

GARY W. LITMAN

Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Tampa Bay Research Institute, Saint Petersburg, FL 33716

Communicated by Edward A. Boyse, October 16, 1989

The immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable ABSTRACT region (VH) locus in a phylogenetically primitive teleost (Elops saurus) has been characterized by a strategy that relied initially on cross-hybridization between genomic VH segments and a murine VH probe. Using a homologous (Elops) VH probe and DNA sequencing, this gene family has been shown to be complex and to contain overt pseudogenes. A homologous probe also has been used to isolate a full copy length cDNA containing constant (CH) as well as joining (JH) and VH regions. Genomic analyses using CH-, JH-, and VH-specific probes have demonstrated the presence of only a single hybridizing CH and several JH elements. JH-CH linkage is C3.6 kilobases (kb) and VH-CH linkage is