Nucleotide sequence of the VH, VL regions of an anti-idiotopic antibody reacting with a private idiotope of the anti-lysozyme D1.3 antibody.

Antibody E225 reacts with a private idiotope of the anti-lysozyme antibody D1.3. A complex between the Fab fragments from these BALB/c monoclonal antibodies has been crystallized and the determination of the three-dimensional structure of this idiotope-anti-idiotope complex is under way. The nucleotide VH and VL sequences of E225 presented here have been determined to provide the amino acid sequence information necessary for the interpretation of the high resolution electron density maps of the complex, obtained by X-ray crystallography. The cDNAs synthesized from the Vkappa and VH mRNAs were cloned in E. coli. Both cDNA strands were sequenced by the dideoxy termination method. The translated amino acid sequence shows that Vkappa, VH correspond to groups five (V) and II(b) of mouse immunoglobulin light and heavy chains, respectively. Sequence alignments between the complementarity determining regions of E225 and the antigenic determinant of lysozyme recognized by D1.3 do not indicate whether or not the anti-idiotopic antibody structurally mimics the external antigen.