Allelic forms of anti-phosphorylcholine antibodies

Anti-idiotype antisera were prepared to 2 phosphorylcholine (PC) binding myeloma proteins, T15 of BALB/c origin and C3 of C57BL origin. These antisera were shown to recognize the respective determinants on induced anti-PC antibodies in the 2 parental strains. Genetic analysis of these V region markers in backcross progeny of (BALB/c X C57BL/6) X BALB/c demonstrated that the 2 determinants segregated as simple Mendelian alleles linked to the allotype locus. The genetic data are consistent with previously reported structural studies suggesting the allelic nature of the T15 and C3 heavy chain variable regions. The expression of the T15 and C3 antigenic determinants in Ig congenic and recombinant inbred strains derived from BALB/c-C57BL/6 crosses further supports the concept of allelism although a single exception was observed. Strain distribution analysis has indicated the potential existence of other alleles of the T15 gene in addition to C3.