Rabbit Immunoglobulin Light Chains: Correlation of Variable Region Sequences with Allotypic Markers

Evidence that the group b allotype markers correlate with certain mixtures of variable region sequences in rabbit immunoglobulin light chains is presented. The amino terminal sequences of κ chains from heterogeneous rabbit immunoglobulin of differing allotypes were examined by using an automatic protein sequenator. Each of the four allotypes has a distinctive pattern of amino acid residue alternatives over the first 20 amino terminal residues. Since previous studies have shown that amino acid sequences correlating with the allotypes are present in the constant region, our observations suggest that constant and variable region genes of κ chains may be closely linked.