Two kappa immunoglobulin genes are expressed in the myeloma S107

Abstract

We have cloned two rearranged kappa immunoglobulin genes from the mouse myeloma cell line S107, and find that both are expressed. One gene, designated S107A, encodes the secreted kappa chain that participates in phosphocholine binding and expression of the T-15 idiotype. The other gene, designated S107B, as described here, contains an unusual junction between a V region unrelated to that of S107A and a different J region. The V-J junction preserves the triplet reading frame, but 6 nucleotides have been deleted at the recombination site. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the germline V-region precursor of S107B in comparison with other germline kappa-variable sequences reveals an "extra" 2 nucleotides in S107B between codon 95 and the palindromic heptanucleotide CACAGTG previously implicated in V-J recombination; this difference may be relevant to the 6 nucleotide deletion. Both S107A and S107B genes are expressed in the S107 cell as protein products, but unlike the S107A kappa chain, the S107B protein product is not secreted into the medium. The expression of these two kappa genes in the S107 cell has implications for theories of allelic exclusion.