Evolutionary dynamics of the human immunoglobulin kappa locus and the germline repertoire of the Vkappa genes.

We have determined the entire nucleotide sequence of the human immunoglobulin kappa locus, comprising a total of 1,010,706 nucleotides. The 76 Vkappa genes found by a hybridization-based approach and their classification in 7 families were confirmed. A Vkappa orphon located near the locus was also sequenced.

The 5' part of the mouse immunoglobulin kappa locus as a continuously cloned structure.

Five contigs of the 5' part of the immunoglobulin kappa locus (F. Röschenthaler et al., Eur.

The immunoglobulin kappa gene families of human and mouse: a cottage industry approach.

Some aspects of the work of our group on the human and mouse immunoglobulin kappa genes are reviewed. The human kappa locus contains a large duplication: a 600 kb Ckappa-proximal copy with 40 Vkappa genes is found in the close vicinity of a 440 kb Ckappa-distal copy with 36 very similar, but not identical, Vkappa genes. The chimpanzee has only the Ckappa-proximal copy of the locus.

The variable genes and gene families of the mouse immunoglobulin kappa locus.

In this report 118 mouse Vkappa genes are described which, together with the 22 Vkappa genes reported previously (T. Kirschbaum et al., Eur.