ISSN:
1432-1211
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract We have studied the restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) found in the germline T-cell receptor genes of 25 inbred Mus musculus strains and 8 wild Mus species. Included in the inbred mice tested were several strains which spontaneously develop systemic autoimmune disease. Extensive polymorphism was evident for the variable (V) gene segments of the α gene family for both the inbred strains and wild mouse species. Changes in the total number of bands hybridizing with probes for V α gene segments suggest that members of a V α gene segment subfamily are not closely linked, but are interspersed with members of other subfamilies; that expansion and contraction of the multimembered subfamilies may be an important diversifying factor. Our data obtained with β gene probes revealed genomic diversity that is much more limited than that seen for the α locus. Analysis of inbred mice with probes for the γ gene locus revealed some RFLPs, but little evidence of expansion or contraction in the numbers of gene segments. Among the autoimmune mice, NZW, NZB, and BXSB/MpJ all display distinctive differences with α gene probes. NZW mice have a large deletion of the β gene family, which has been reported previously. We found no differences to distinguish the MRL/MpJ lpr/lpr mice from non-autoimmune strains.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00373645
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