Rabbit immunoglobulin allotypes: cross-reactivities of the b95 and b96 allotypic specificities with the allotypes of the b series present in domestic rabbits.

In a population of wild rabbits originating from the Island of Zembra (Tunisia), several unknown allotypic specificities of the b series have been detected and two of them, b95 and b96, have already been described. In order to learn about their relationship with other allotypes of the same series and present in the domestic rabbit, a study of b95 and b96 cross-reactions with heterologous antisera was undertaken. From the data presented in this paper, it can be concluded that the b96 allotype is very closely related to the b6 allotype, which suggests that they are encoded by real structural genes at the b locus as presumed for b4 and b4var allotypes; the b95 allotype, which behaves as an intermediate form, can be considered as an ancestral allotype.