A molecular map of the immune response region from the major histocompatibility complex of the mouse.

A stretch of 200 kilobases (kb) of DNA from the I region of the mouse major histocompatibility complex has been cloned and characterized. It contains the genes for the biochemically defined class II proteins E alpha, E beta and A beta. DNA blot analyses suggest that the I region may contain only 6-8 class II genes. Correlation of our molecular map with the genetic map of the I region confines two of the five I subregions, I-J and I-B, to less than 3.4 kb of DNA at the 3' end of the E beta gene where a hotspot for recombination has been observed. Indeed, the I-A and I-E subregions may be contiguous. If so, the I-B and I-J subregions are not encoded in the I region between the I-A and I-E subregions.