High-frequency gene conversion between repeated C mu sequences integrated at the chromosomal immunoglobulin mu locus in mouse hybridoma cells.

The occurrence of mitotic recombination between repeated immunoglobulin mu gene constant (C mu) region sequences stably integrated at the haploid chromosomal immunoglobulin mu locus in murine hybridoma cells was investigated. Recombination events are detected as changes in hapten-specific immunoglobulin M production. Recombination occurs with high frequency (0.5 to 0.8%) by a mechanism consistent with gene conversion. A double-strand break repair-like mechanism is suggested by the finding that repair of a 2-bp deletion mutation and a 2-bp insertion mutation occurs with parity in a donor-directed manner. The results also suggest that the gene conversion process is directional in that the 5' C mu region sequence is preferentially converted.