Genetic control of immune responsiveness to bovine serum albumin in the high and low antibody producer lines of mice (author's transl)

Mice genetically selected for high or low antibody responsiveness to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) were used for a genetic analysis of the antibody response to an optimal dose of heat-aggregated bovine seralbumin (BSA). About 4 independent loci intervene in the quantitative genetic regulation of the response to BSA, while in these two lines the response to the selection antigen (SRBC) was found to be regulated by about 10 loci; one of them was linked to the major histocompatibility complex of the mouse (H-2). Such an H-2 linkage was not demonstrated for the regulation of the response to BSA. Dominance effect in F1 hybrids was shown to vary according to the strength of the immunization procedure used. This result raises the question of the phenotypic cellular expression of the quantitative genetic regulation of the immune response.