Immunoglobulin light-chain genes in the rhesus macaque II: lambda light-chain germline sequences for subgroups IGLV1, IGLV2, IGLV3, IGLV4 and IGLV5.

The combined processes of immunoglobulin (IG) gene rearrangement and somatic hypermutation allow for the creation of an extremely diverse antibody repertoire. Knowledge of the germline sequence of the IG genes is required so that hypermutation and the affinity matured humoral response can be properly studied. Variable region genes can be arranged into subgroups; in humans, there are 11 IGLV subgroups and 6 IGKV subgroups. The rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is a relevant non-human primate model for human immunological systems. A number of macaque IGHV, IGHD and IGHJ genes have already been reported. We have also previously reported a number of macaque IGKV genes. Here we report the isolation of new macaque IGLV genes by polymerase chain reaction amplification from macaque genomic DNA using primers based on the human sequences. Nine IGLV1, 10 IGLV2, 21 IGLV3, 5 IGLV4 and 7 IGLV5 germline genes for the macaque were found, the open-reading frames of which exhibit high homology to their human counterparts (>89.3, >88.6, >89.0, >94.7 and >87.1%, respectively).