Expression of mouse immunoglobulin genes in monkey cells.

The generation of functional immunoglobulin light-chain genes from variable (V), joining (J), and constant (C) gene segments has been elucidated recently. The structural features which regulate the expression of immunoglobulin genes, however, have not been well defined. To further our understanding of immunoglobulin gene expression, African green monkey cells (CV1), HeLa cells, and mouse L cells were transfected with kappa-chain gene-containing plasmids. We report here that efficient transient expression occurred in the CV1 and HeLa systems when the gene was placed, in a recombinant plasmid, under simian virus 40 (SV40) promoter control. This is the first report of immunoglobulin gene expression in a eukaryotic gene transfer system. No significant expression of the kappa-chain genes under the control of their own promoters was detected, however, in systems in which, for example, the beta-globin gene is expressed from its own promoter. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed.