Gene conversion and homologous recombination in murine B cells.

Gene conversion has been found to be important in the diversification of antibody genes in chickens and in rabbits. In other species, however, it is not clear whether gene conversion plays any role in antibody diversity. Analysis of an H-chain antibody gene construct that was designed to optimize the detection of gene conversion events in transgenic mice has shown that sequence transfers that resemble gene conversion events can occur in murine B cells and are associated with somatic hypermutation. This raises the possibility that an error-prone gene conversion mechanism might play a role in murine somatic hypermutation.