Isolation of a cDNA clone from the B-G subregion of the chicken histocompatibility (B) complex

The B-G antigens are highly polymorphic antigens encoded by genes located within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of the chicken, the B system. The B-G antigens of the chicken MHC are found only on erythrocytes and correspond to neither MHC class I nor class II antigens. Several clones were selected from a lambda gt11 erythroid cell expression library by means of rabbit antisera prepared against a purified, denatured B-G antigen. One clone chosen for further study, lambda bg28, was confirmed as a B-G subregion cDNA clone by the results obtained through using it as a nucleic acid hybridization probe. In Northern hybridizations lambda bg28 anneals specifically with erythroid cell mRNA. In Southern blot analyses the lambda bg28 clone could be assigned to the B system-bearing microchromosome of the chicken karyotype on the basis of its hybridization to DNA from birds disomic, trisomic, and tetrasomic for this microchromosome. The cDNA clone was further mapped to the B-G subregion on the basis of its pattern of hybridization with DNA from birds of known B region recombinant haplotypes. Southern blot analyses of the hybridization of lambda bg28 with genomic DNA from birds of known haplotypes strongly suggest that the B-G antigens are encoded by a highly polymorphic multigene family.