Parallel evolution of antibody variable regions by somatic processes: consecutive shared somatic alterations in VH genes expressed by independently generated hybridomas apparently acquired by point mutation and selection rather than by gene conversion.

Abstract excerpt

We identified, in independently generated hybridoma antibodies, blocks of shared somatic alterations comprising four consecutive amino acid replacements in the CDR2s of their heavy chain variable regions. We found that the nucleotide sequences encoding the shared replacements differed slightly. In addition, we performed genomic cloning and sequencing analyses that indicate that no genomic sequence could encode...

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Animals
• Base Sequence
• Biological Evolution
• Blotting, Southern
• Cloning, Molecular
• Gene Conversion
• Gene Rearrangement
• Hybridomas
• Immunoglobulin Variable Region