Analysis of immunoglobulin heavy chain V-region genes belonging to the V^NP-gene family

Abstract

A method was devised to clone immunoglobulin VH-region genes located on selected restriction fragments from genomic DNA directly into M13 vectors for subsequent nucleotide sequence analysis. Ten recombinant M13 clones representing four so far unknown VH-region genes of the VNP-gene family have been analysed. Sequence comparison shows that these genes are closely related to other VH-genes of the VNP gene family. One of the VH-genes exhibits a so far unobserved unusual length of 100 2/3 codons and appears to be functional. Analysis of the variation of the isolated VH-genes suggests that framework and complementarity determining regions are exposed to separate types of selective pressures.