Reciprocal chromosome translocation between c-myc and immunoglobulin gamma 2b genes

Specific chromosome translocations have been observed in transformed cell lines of both man and mouse and may be implicated in the origin or maintenance of malignancy. In mouse plasmacytomas, translocations have been identified that bring the immunoglobulin alpha heavy-chain gene (C alpha, normally located on chromosome 12) into proximity with c-myc (normally located on chromosome 15), c-myc being the mouse cellular homologue of the avian myelocytomatosis virus transforming gene (v-myc). Here we identify a DNA rearrangement in a mouse hybridoma that has brought c-myc close to C gamma 2b and show that this rearrangement occurred by reciprocal chromosome translocation, as recombinant clones were isolated from the same cell line in which a rearranged variable-region (VH) gene has been brought close to 5' c-myc sequences. The translocation has resulted in the net loss of 7 base pairs (bp) of chromosome 15 sequence as well as in the presence of an additional base of unknown provenance. This reciprocal translocation was analysed in DNA from a mouse hybridoma cell line but is shown to be characteristic of the X63Ag8 myeloma parent.