Weinstein P D, Anderson A O, Mage R G
Applied Research Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA.
Immunity. 1994 Nov;1(8):647-59. doi: 10.1016/1074-7613(94)90036-1.
Although the rabbit IgH locus contains approximately 100 VH genes, the majority of B cells rearrange VH1. To produce a primary repertoire containing a sufficient number of protective antibodies, rearranged VH1-DH-JH sequences may diversify within rabbit B cells in an organ that functions like a chicken bursa, sheep ileal Peyer's patch, or both. It was suggested many years ago that the rabbit appendix could be a bursal equivalent. To reexamine this possibility, we analyzed rearranged heavy chain variable region sequences in B cells from light and dark zones of appendix germinal centers from 6-week-old rabbits. Our findings indicate that antibody diversification occurs by gene conversion-like and somatic hypermutation mechanisms in appendix germinal centers of young rabbits.
尽管兔免疫球蛋白重链（IgH）基因座包含约100个VH基因，但大多数B细胞重排VH1。为了产生包含足够数量保护性抗体的初始库，重排的VH1-DH-JH序列可能在兔B细胞内一个功能类似于鸡法氏囊、绵羊回肠派尔集合淋巴结或两者兼具的器官中发生多样化。许多年前有人提出兔阑尾可能相当于法氏囊。为了重新审视这种可能性，我们分析了6周龄兔阑尾生发中心明暗区B细胞中重链可变区的重排序列。我们的研究结果表明，抗体多样化是通过幼兔阑尾生发中心中的基因转换样和体细胞超突变机制发生的。
