Cloned pairs of variable region genes for immunoglobulin heavy chains isolated from a clone library of the entire mouse genome

Abstract

To investigate the organization of immunoglobulin genes, we have constructed a clone library containing 10(6) randomly generated fragments of mouse embryo DNA, corresponding to eight equivalents of the genome. The cloning method involved methylation of embryo DNA at EcoRI recognition sites, partial digestion by EcoRI* endonclease activity, and direct ligation of the resulting large fragments to the lambda phage vector Charon 4A. The library was searched for sequences homologous to a cloned complementary DNA copy of a mu heavy chain mRNA. Nine clones bearing variable heavy chain (VH) sequences were isolated, representing at least eight distinct VH genes. Thus, multiple related VH genes are av..