Physical mapping of the giant panda immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region genes

We constructed a giant panda bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) genomic library and isolated a BAC clone containing all the immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. The sequences of these genes were determined, revealing that the deduced panda immunoglobulin heavy chain constant regions (IGHC) are structurally similar to their counterparts in other mammalian species and phylogenetic analysis suggests that the panda immunoglobulins are evolutionarily more close to their counterparts in dogs. Both the panda IgG1 and IgG2 show a unique four amino acids-deletion that has not been observed in any other species to date. The entire panda IGHC gene locus shows an mu-4 kb-delta-39 kb-gamma1-27 kb-gamma2-13 kb-epsilon-14 kb-alpha gene order. It is the most compact mammalian IGHC locus known thus far, encompassing only 120 kb of DNA. Fluorescent in situ hybridization showed that the panda locus is localized on tip of the short arm of chromosome 12.