Nucleotide sequence of chimpanzee Fc and hinge regions

The nucleotide sequence of the Fc and hinge regions of a chimpanzee monoclonal antibody has been determined. Most of the sequence is similar to the human IgG1 sequence. However, the chimpanzee hinge regions differs from the human hinge region in six of 48 nucleotides, which leads to three amino acid substitutions. Two of the amino acid changes are not conservative and may lead to differences in flexibility of the hinge. The chimp hinge sequence seems to be a combination of the human IgG1 hinge and the hinge sequence of a human IgG pseudogene. The implications of this difference for the evolution of human IgG subgroup is discussed. Despite differences in the hinge regions, the chimpanzee monoclonal antibody differs from the most closely related human IgG1 allotype only slightly more than the two most distantly related human allotypes differ from each other.