Cloning of mitogen- and antigen-reactive B lymphocytes on filter paper discs. II. Paratope frequencies within the mitogen-selected repertoire.

Paratopic frequencies of C57BL/6 (Igh-Vb) and BALB/c (Igh-Va) mice were compared by determining the frequency of lipopolysaccharide-reactive, splenic B lymphocytes secreting antibody specific for (4-hydroxy-5-iodo-3-nitrophenyl) acetyl (NIP), trinitrophenyl (TNP), phosphorylcholine (PC), NIP/TNP, NIP/PC, and sheep erythrocytes. Despite the known genotypic and phenotypic differences between the two Igh-V loci, no significant differences in paratope frequencies were demonstrated. Similar determinations in C.B-20 mice, Ighb congenics of the BALB/c strain, and in C57BL/10 nude mice indicated that the mitogen-generated paratope frequencies directly reflected the capacity of immunoglobulin variable region elements rather than complex interactive or regulatory controls to generate diversity. We conclude that at least for the paratopic repertoire, the role of the somatic processes for the generation of antibody diversity exceeds the influence of germ-line differences between the Ighb and Igha haplotypes.