Lambda light chain constant and variable gene complements in wild-derived inbred mouse strains.

Previous investigations of lambda light (L) chains in wild-derived inbred (WDI) mouse strains revealed large variations in serum levels of this L chain type as well as differences in antibody responses in which lambda chains predominate. In the present study a diverse group of WDI strains was analyzed by Southern blot analysis using probes for V lambda, C lambda 1 and C lambda 2 genes in an attempt to correlate the complement of lambda genes present in these strains with their lambda expression and with their taxonomic classification. All strains studied had two or three DNA sequences that strongly hybridized with a V lambda probe derived from BALB/c; most strains had V lambda sequences on restriction fragments similar in size to V lambda 1 and V lambda 2 sequences from BALB/c. Comparison of C lambda 1 and C lambda 2 genes in WDI mice to those of BALB/c revealed extensive variation both in number of hybridizing fragments and in their sizes. There were no obvious correlations observed between C lambda and V lambda patterns obtained for mouse strains of any phylogenetic group suggesting that constant and variable regions of lambda have evolved independently. In contrast to variations found for C lambda, a single kappa constant region gene appears to be conserved throughout the various mouse species.