Abstract
An immunoglobulin (Ig)-producing lymphocyte can sometimes express one heavy-chain variable (VH) region combined with different heavy-chain constant (CH) regions. For example, single cells making IgM and IgD with the same antibody specificity have been observed1. Cells, both singly2 and in mass culture3,4, switch from IgM to IgG production, and it is believed that the variable regions expressed are the same before and after the switch. We describe here the analysis of a hybrid derived by fusing an IgM-producing cell with an IgG producer, where the corresponding μ, and γ heavy chains bear different variable regions, denoted V1 and V2. This hybrid makes only the parental heavy chains—V1Cμ and V2Cγ—and not the novel combination V2Cμ. This result suggests that the μ and γ heavy-chain classes are not determined by classspecific RNA processing.
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SHULMAN, M., KÖHLER, G. Immunoglobulin µ and γ heavy chain classes are not determined by class-specific RNA-splicing enzymes. Nature 274, 917–919 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274917a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/274917a0
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