The immune response genes of the mouse encode two cell-surface glycoproteins, I-A and I-E, that play critical roles in determining the animal's immune responsiveness. The I-A antigen contains two chains, alpha and beta. A cloned beta-chain gene, I-A beta k, was introduced into B-lymphoma cells that express I-Ad. The transfected gene was successfully expressed on the cell surface of the recipient cells and was functional in stimulating allospecific T cells.