Analysis of immunoglobulin light chain loci in sheep

A sheep kappa cDNA probe was isolated, characterized by sequence analysis and shown to have significant sequence identity to other kappa light chains. This probe and a sheep lambda light chain probe were used to estimate the extent of various sheep immunoglobulin light chain gene loci by Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA. The results showed that the sheep has a single hybridizing kappa constant gene and three to five kappa V segment bands. Segregation of three polymorphic bands at the lambda C locus indicated that they were products of separate C segments. Restriction fragment pattern variations were obtained using light chain probes on various sheep breeds, but no pattern or individual band was characteristic for a particular breed.