Amino acids at the site of V kappa-J kappa recombination not encoded by germline sequences.

Abstract

Murine V kappa-J kappa recombination is characterized by a maintenance of size at the site of recombination and the use of nucleic acids found only in germline sequences. This is in contrast to heavy chain VH-D-JH assembly where random nucleotides are added at the recombination sites to produce considerable size variation, even though the heptamer/nonomer recombination sequences are identical in both kappa and heavy chain genes. We have examined the origin of an unusual amino acid, Ile, found at the site of V kappa-J kappa recombination in antigalactan antibodies, by sequence analysis of the corresponding rearranged and germline genes. Results indicate that the Ile codon can be generated by use of a single nucleotide 3' of the V kappa segment in combination with the second and third nucleotides of the first codon of J kappa 5 or J kappa 4. However, several antigalactan antibodies express Ile in combination with J kappa 2. An Ile codon cannot be generated by recombination in any reading frame between germline V kappa and J kappa 2 segments. These results suggest that the origin of the Ile codon in lines using J kappa 2 may represent a novel even in murine light chain assembly, possibly similar to the de novo addition of nucleotides observed in heavy chain gene recombination.

Evidence of antigen receptor-influenced oligoclonal B lymphocyte expansion in the synovium of a patient with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis.

“…Changes in the sequence of the VK-JK junction introduced by both genetic and somatic mechanisms may thus affect antigen binding and specificity. For example, anti-galactan antibodies are enriched for light chains with isoleucine at the VK-JK junction (40). mAbs raised in A/J mice against the hapten p-azophenylarsonate all contain an arginine at position 96, which is essential for antigen binding (41 ).…”

Heterogeneity in junctional regions of immunoglobulin kappa deleting element rearrangements in B cell leukemias: a new molecular target for detection of minimal residual disease

“…[42][43][44][45][46] But with the discovery of the PCR technique the analysis of antigen specific receptor gene rearrangements as well as the analysis of IGK gene rearrangements is moving rapidly. [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] However, reports about V gene usage in Kde rearrangements are not available.…”

Preferential utilization of a novel vλ3 gene in monoclonal rheumatoid factors derived from the synovial cells of rheumatoid arthritis patients

“…The remainder of ka4h6 used an unmutated J K~ gene sharing 36 of 36 bp (Table 1 and Figure 6A) (29). The CDR3 of ka4h6 contained a 2-bp N region (19,30) (Figure 6A). …”