Immunoglobulin light-chain genes in the rhesus macaque I: kappa light-chain germline sequences for subgroups IGKV1, IGKV and IGKV3

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 six 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, but only one light-chain germline gene has been published so far. Here we report the isolation of new macaque IGKV genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification from macaque genomic DNA using primers based on the human sequences. Twenty-eight IGKV1, 22 IGKV2 and 12 IGKV3 germline genes for the macaque were found, the open reading frames of which exhibit high homology to their human counterparts (>96, >99 and >96%, respectively).