Expression of the immunoglobulin Cμ gene in mouse T and B lymphoid and myeloid cell lines

Abstract

We have used cloned nucleotide sequences as probes to search for immunoglobulin RNA and T and B lymphoid and nonlymphoid tumor cell lines. Polyadenylylated RNA from the cells was fractionated electrophoretically by size and fixed to diazobenzyloxymethyl-paper, and then immunoglobulin RNA species were revealed by hybridization with 32P-labeled cloned sequences for μ heavy chain and κ light chain. κ mRNA was detected only in B lymphoid lines known to synthesize κ chains. No μ RNA was detectable in erythroleukemia, mastocytoma, or sarcoma cells. RNA bearing μ constant region (Cμ) sequences, however, was detected in four of nine T lymphoma and four of five myeloid tumor cell lines tested, as wel..