Structure of mink immunoglobulin gamma chain cDNA

Two cDNA clones, encoding mink Ig gamma chains were characterized. The pIGG47 clone contains a part of the leader segment, VDJ and C regions, and pIGG14 contains a part of the J and a complete C region. The clones differ by only four nucleotides in the C region, and they most probably represent allelic variants of the same gene. The V gene segment of pIGG47 was found to be highly similar to human VHIII subgroup sequences; there was 86-87% similarity for the whole V gene segment and 91% for the VHIII specific regions (codons 65-87). Southern blot analysis demonstrated that a high proportion of mink VH genes is VHIII related. The V gene segment used as a probe revealed 19-23 bands in mink DNA under stringent conditions. This is in agreement with our previous data showing that a high proportion of mink Ig contains an 'alternative' binding site for protein A, a feature common to VHIII-related molecules. According to Southern blot analysis there may be 5-7 C gamma genes at the mink IgH locus.