Unusually long germline DH genes contribute to large sized CDR3H in bovine antibodies.

We demonstrated earlier the existence of an exceptionally long third complementarity-determining region of the heavy chain (CDR3H) (up to 61 amino acids (aa)), with multiple cysteine residues, in some functional IgM antibodies of cattle. To understand the origin of such a long CDR3H, we have now characterized the germline diversity gene (D(H)) of the cattle. A 2.3kb genomic DNA fragment hybridizing with a newly developed DNA probe to putative bovine D(H) gene sequences was isolated, cloned and its nucleotide sequence determined. Inspection of the nucleotide sequence led to identification of three bovine germline D(H) gene segments of varying size: 42bp (14 possible codons), 58bp (19 possible codons) and 148bp (49 possible codons). The characteristic repetitive GGT and TAT codons, remarkable in the CDR3H region of fetal VDJ rearrangements likely encoded by germline genes, are noted in two of the identified germline D(H) genes. These D(H) genes are preferentially expressed in the third reading frame to encode hydrophilic glycine and tyrosine residues in the CDR3H region. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that bovine D(H) genes are closest to rabbit and chicken D(H) genes. Thus, both short and long germline D(H) genes exist in cattle and these are capable of directly contributing to CDR3H size heterogeneity including the exceptionally long CDR3H region, apart from recombination associated mechanistic factors.