Introns excised from immunoglobulin pre-mRNAs exist as discrete species

We have discovered a new class of transcripts of immunoglobulin kappa genes in RNA from B-lineage cells. These transcripts have the properties predicted of free introns excised from kappa mRNA precursors. RNA extracted from populations of normal mouse spleen cells polyclonally activated with B-cell mitogens contains four such transcripts; their electrophoretic mobilities correspond to the distances between the intron-exon boundary of the C kappa region and the four useable J kappa elements, and their relative abundance reflects the relative usage of those J segments. Analysis of RNA from monoclonal kappa-expressing cell lines reveals that one active locus produces one free intron, its size determined by which J element is used in that locus. Apart from their distinctive size, free introns are identified by their lack of polyadenylic acid and their ability to hybridize to cloned probes containing intron sequences, but not to the adjacent V or C exonic sequences. They have a characteristic subcellular distribution, being extractable from nuclei by treatment with nonionic detergent; nuclei thus treated retain most of the primary mRNA precursors, but few of the free introns. A high level of kappa gene expression is not a prerequisite of a cell containing detectable free kappa introns; the lymphoma 38c has only 5% or less of the amount of kappa mRNA that the plasmacytoma MCP-11 contains, yet the ratio of free intron to mRNA precursor is about the same in both cell lines. When analyzed by electrophoretic separation of sufficient resolving power, the free introns due to a single kappa locus resolve into two discrete species. We consider that this most likely reflects the existence of two conformers of the intron, one presumably a covalently intact circle and the other linear molecule.