Organization and expression of immunoglobulin genes in fetal liver hybridomas

The organization and expression of immunoglobulin genes were studied in a series of six hybridomas derived from the fusion of a nonproducing myeloma cell with cells from mouse fetal liver. These hybridomas, which exhibit several phenotypic characteristics of immature B lymphocytes, all have productively rearranged mu heavy chain genes and produce both the membrane and secreted forms of mu mRNA in a ratio of about 1:10. Significantly, none of the hybridomas has an unrearranged (germ line) allelic mu gene. Examination of the kappa light chain genes revealed that all six of the hybridomas contain unrearranged kappa loci and produce 8.4-kilobase transcripts containing kappa constant region sequences. None of the five hybridomas that exhibit a mu-only phenotype contains a rearranged kappa gene other than that derived from the myeloma parent. One hybridoma, which actively secretes kappa immunoglobulin, contains a rearranged kappa gene of fetal liver origin and synthesizes a distinctive kappa mRNA precursor in addition to the 8.4-kilobase transcript. These results demonstrate that rearrangement of heavy chain immunoglobulin genes normally occurs prior to that of light chain genes and further indicate that the transcriptional competence of the kappa constant region locus is established prior to the time of its rearrangement.