Analysis of immunoglobulins expressing the V kappa 21E and V kappa 21D gene products. Evidence for multigenic control of the expression of VH-VL combinations.

The aim of this work was to study the genetic control of VH-VL combined expression. To this end immunoglobulins expressing the V kappa 21E and V kappa 21D gene products were isolated from the normal sera of several inbred strains of mice using a monoclonal antibody that selectively reacts with V kappa 21E and V kappa 21D subgroups. Analysis of the isoelectric focusing (IEF) pattern of the IgG heavy chains of these immunoglobulins obtained from H-2-congeneic mice revealed as expected that Igh-linked loci strongly influence VH-VL combined expression. The IEF pattern of V kappa 21D and V kappa 21E-associated heavy chains isolated from recombinant inbred mouse strains, however, revealed different phenotypes from either parental strains in strains in which both H-2 and Igh loci segregated from the same parent. These data, therefore, strongly suggest that the expression of VH-VL combinations is controlled in part by genetic loci which segregate independently from those linked to H-2 and Igh.