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Genetic control of natural antibody repertoires: I. IgH, MHC and TCRβ loci
Author(s) -
Vasconcellos Rita,
Nobrega Alberto,
Haury Matthias,
Viale AnneClaire,
Coutinho Antonio
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
european journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1521-4141
pISSN - 0014-2980
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-4141(199803)28:03<1104::aid-immu1104>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - biology , congenic , major histocompatibility complex , antibody , genetics , locus (genetics) , immunogenetics , gene , microbiology and biotechnology
Abstract Global analysis of natural antibody repertoires has revealed a marked conservation of reactivity patterns within inbred mouse strains, and characteristic strain‐specific differences. We have now analyzed the genetic control of reactivity repertoires, aiming at identifying the respective selection mechanisms. Multiparametric statistics of a large number of serum antibody reactivities scored by quantitative Western blot analyses using extracts from homologous tissues and bacteria readily distinguish the reactivity patterns of C57BL/6 and BALB/c, revealing homogeneity among genetically identical individuals. Antibody repertoires in the prototype strains can also be segregated from those expressed by the respective IgH congenics, BC.8 and CB.20, demonstrating that IgH‐linked genes contribute to determining natural antibody repertoires. Conversely, strains sharing IgH haplotype also express distinct reactivity patterns, indicating that other genes participate in the selection of serum IgM repertoires. Two such non‐IgH loci were now identified. Thus, analysis of four MHC‐congenic strains demonstrated that MHC‐linked control of natural antibody repertoires is likely to operate through differential selection of T cell repertoires, since (1) mice that are congenic at the TCRβ locus, and (2) BALB/c nude mice grafted at birth with pure thymic epithelium from either C57BL/6 or BALB/c also differ in their natural antibody repertoires.