Activity of multiple light chain genes in murine myeloma cells producing a single, functional light chain

Membrane-bound and cellular immunoglobulins in human B-lymphoma lines and derived hybrids

Hybrids derived from the fusion of cell lines representing different maturation stages were studied for their membrane and cellular immunoglobulin expression. The hybrids can be subdivided into 3 groups, with one common parental line in each group. In the first group, Raji cells represent the common parent: it contains small amounts of membrane and cytoplasmic mu (mu) and kappa (kappa) chains. In the second group, PUT is the common parent, an ouabain and TG-resistant subline of the BL-derived P3HR-1 line. PUT contains a truncated intracellular mu chain. The third group consists of hybrids between K562, an EBV-negative human erythroleukemia line and 2 different BL lines. Membrane-immunoglobulin expression was intermediate between the parental lines in the first two groups derived from the fusion of 2 BL lines. In the third group, hybridization with the K562 cell suppressed the membrane-Ig expression of the B-cell partner. Total cellular immunoglobulin determinations showed that some cells synthesized light chains in excess of heavy chains, others contained an excess of heavy chains, while still others had equal amounts of heavy and light chains. The hybrids showed a variety of patterns, including amplification of the parental phenotypes, appearance of new phenotypic combinations, and eclipse of one or both parental phenotypes. A comparison of the total and the membrane-associated immunoglobulin patterns suggests independent handling of intracellular and membrane immunoglobulin synthesis.

Immunoglobulin gene expression in a coupled transcription/translation system from mouse plasmacytoma cell-free extracts

Mouse plasmacytoma cytoplasmic extracts and sonicated nuclei have been incubated under conditions which resulted in translation and transcription, respectively. When the cell-free systems were combined, incorporation of radioactive precursors into RNA and protein was enhanced and extended. Coupling of transcription and translation was indicted by the inhibition of protein synthesis, and specifically immunoglobulin synthesis, by actinomycin D and alpha-amanitin. When immunoglobulin synthesis was investigated in MOPC-104E cells Which contain both lambda and K mRNAs but secrete only lambda light chains, the extracts synthesized both K and Lambda light chains. These results indicated that the unexpressed MOPC-104E K mRNA could be translated on homologous ribosomes under the appropriate conditions and suggested that postranscriptional controls may play a role in k-chain gene expression in MOPC-104E cells.

Organization and reorganization of immunoglobulin genes in A-MULV-transformed cells: rearrangement of heavy but not light chain genes

The structure of immunoglobulin-related gene was analyzed in individual Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV)-transformed lymphoid cell lines. Essentially all of these lines, whether immunoglobulin-containing or null, had DNA rearrangements in the vicinity of the JH regions on both chromosomes as well as deletions of at least 5 kb of DNA 5' to JH. None of these lines, however, except rare light chain producers, had detectable rearrangement at either their kappa or lambda light chain loci. In contrast to A-MuLV-transformants derived from bone marrow. Those from early fetal liver frequently contained more than two and sometimes 12 or more distinct, rearranged JH-containing fragments. Cellular subclones derived from these lines had a subset, usually two, of the fragments found in the parent line. Therefore, heavy chain gene rearrangement appears to precede that of light chain gene rearrangement and is still continuing in certain cultured A-MuLV transformants.

Two alpha heavy chain disease proteins with different genomic deletions demonstrate that nonexpressed alpha heavy chain genes contain methylated bases

Two independently arising alpha heavy chain mutants have been found to synthesize heavy chains with CH1 deletions of approximately equal extent. Both were isolated from heavy chain-producing variants of the mouse myeloma W3129 and demonstrate that it is possible to arrive at the heavy chain disease phenotype by the pathway H + L leads to H leads to delta H. Analysis of genomic DNA by digestion with restriction endonucleases followed by molecular hybridization showed that one mutant (delta 37) had a deletion of approximately 0.2 kilobase and the second mutant (delta 15) had a deletion of approximately 0.5 kilobase. Mouse myeloma cells contain several alpha chain alleles but only one is expressed; the presence of the deletion in delta 37 and delta 15 made it possible to identify the restriction fragments from the expressed allele. Analysis of the fragments produced after cleavage with an isoschizomeric pair of restriction enzymes, Msp I and Hpa II, indicated that, in the W3129 cell line and its variants, the unexpressed alpha alleles contain methylated bases. The influence of methylation on gene expression remains to be elucidated.

Developmental hierarchy of immunoglobulin gene rearrangements in human leukemic pre-B-cells

We have used a special class of human acute lymphocytic leukemias, the common "non-T/non-B" cell type, to define a hierarchy of genetic rearrangements that occur during the earliest stages of B-cell maturation. This has allowed us to identify intermediate cells predicted by a hierarchial model in which immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region gene formation precedes that of light chain and in which kappa light chain gene formation precedes that of lambda. The model emphasizes the flexible nature of immunoglobulin gene recombination that not infrequently produces aberrant or null genes that are phenotypically excluded from expression. Remaining alleles or isotypic genes can then be utilized as "spares" undergoing recombination until a valid gene is formed. Significantly, the excluded allele or isotype is frequently deleted from the genome. In addition to defining a pathway of genetic maturation, this analysis provides a powerful means to further classify cases of non-T/non-B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, most of which seem to reside at early stages along the B-cell pathway of differentiation.

RNA splicing mutation in an aberrantly rearranged immunoglobulin lambda I gene

The mouse cell line MOPC 315 is an IgA (lambda II)-producing myeloma. We have studied a derivative of MOPC 315 that secretes normal lambda II chains but no heavy chain. This derivative, MOPC 315-26, was found to contain a rearranged lambda I gene in addition to a rearranged lambda II gene. The rearranged lambda I gene was cloned into bacteriophage lambda DNA and its structure was studied. The lambda I gene was found to have arisen by an aberrant recombination event that resulted in a single base insertion at the site of V-J region joining. In addition, the gene contained numerous point mutations in the vicinity of the junction of the V and J regions. Two point mutations occurred in the donor splice sequence normally used for the removal of the intron between the J and C regions, suggesting that the RNA synthesized from the aberrantly rearranged lambda I gene would be unable to undergo proper RNA splicing.

Two kappa immunoglobulin genes are expressed in the myeloma S107

We have cloned two rearranged kappa immunoglobulin genes from the mouse myeloma cell line S107, and find that both are expressed. One gene, designated S107A, encodes the secreted kappa chain that participates in phosphocholine binding and expression of the T-15 idiotype. The other gene, designated S107B, as described here, contains an unusual junction between a V region unrelated to that of S107A and a different J region. The V-J junction preserves the triplet reading frame, but 6 nucleotides have been deleted at the recombination site. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the germline V-region precursor of S107B in comparison with other germline kappa-variable sequences reveals an "extra" 2 nucleotides in S107B between codon 95 and the palindromic heptanucleotide CACAGTG previously implicated in V-J recombination; this difference may be relevant to the 6 nucleotide deletion. Both S107A and S107B genes are expressed in the S107 cell as protein products, but unlike the S107A kappa chain, the S107B protein product is not secreted into the medium. The expression of these two kappa genes in the S107 cell has implications for theories of allelic exclusion.

Plasmacytomas with more than one immunoglobulin kappa mRNA: implications for allelic exclusion

Although only one allele of an immunoglobulin gene is thought to be expressed as a polypeptide by a given lymphocyte ("allelic exclusion"), three murine plasmacytomas were found to contain more than one kappa light chain mRNA species, as evidenced by the sequences of distinct kappa cDNA clones. Two different kappa cDNA sequences were cloned from BFPC 61 microsomal mRNA, two from MOPC 173, and three from S107. One cDNA sequence from each tumor matches the known secreted polypeptide, while the variant sequences differ in the variable (V) region. Hence fusion of a V kappa gene to a joining (J kappa) gene has occurred independently on separate homologous chromosomes and each allele is transcriptionally competent. The BFPC 61 variant sequence contained a normal V kappa sequence linked out of phase to J kappa 2; hence allelic exclusion in this line is accounted for by an error in DNA rearrangement. One S107 variant cDNA has an untranslatable sequence linked to J kappa--C kappa and may derive from a non-V kappa or pseudo-V kappa gene fused to J kappa. Another S107 variant cDNA, however, has a proper V kappa linked in phase to J kappa (albeit missing the first two germ-line J kappa codons) and the MOPC 173 variant sequence also contains a proper V kappa--J kappa join, although it does not encode a tryptophan residue common to all immunoglobulin chains. The presence of two potentially expressible kappa mRNAs in both S107 and MOPC 173 suggests that allelic exclusion does not hold in all lymphocytes, or that it sometimes reflects events subsequent to mRNA production, such as inability of certain kappa chains to assemble properly with the heavy chain. These observations are compatible with a stochastic model for allelic exclusion in which productive and nonproductive V--J recombination events occur at a certain frequency for each allele.

Aberrant rearrangements contribute significantly to the allelic exclusion of immunoglobulin gene expression

A study of the organization of light- and heavy-chain immunoglobulin genes in mouse splenic B cells, spleen-derived hybridomas and plasmacytomas has unequivocally demonstrated that aberrant rearrangements are common during normal B-cell development. The results support a probabilistic model for allelic exclusion of immunoglobulin gene expression.

Human immunoglobulin kappa light-chain genes are deleted or rearranged in lambda-producing B cells

We have examined 10 human lambda light-chain-producing B lymphocytes and found that genes for the kappa constant region have been deleted in each. Only one of the 20 possible kappa alleles in these cells has been retained and even this exception is rearranged. In contrast, lambda constant region genes remain in the germ-line configuration in each of the eight kappa light-chain-producing human B lymphocytes examined. Such observations suggest a hierarchy of light-chain-gene rearrangement beginning with kappa and proceeding to lambda.

Dual expression of lambda genes in the MOPC-315 plasmacytoma

The expression of two kappa light chain immunoglobulins in the MPC-11 mouse myeloma is well established, the two protein products being apparently from RNA transcripts derived from separate, rearranged kappa alleles in the MPC-11 genome. Recently, the characterization of kappa-related RNAs and protein products in several lambda-producing myelomas has indicated that multiple expression of light chain RNAs is a common event in myelomas and other cells of the B-lymphocyte lineage. These studies suggest that, although many light chain alleles may function to make RNA and protein in a given B-lymphocytic cell, only one complete, functional light chain is generally translated from the RNAs present in a single cell. The myeloma, MOPC-315, synthesizes and secretes an antibody which has an alpha heavy chain and a lambda II light chain. The DNA of MOPC-315 either has no kappa genes or has only a fragment of one, but it certainly has no kappa genes in the embryonic configuration. Rearrangement of its lambda genes has been observed but the exact nature of the rearrangement is not known. Because initial observations suggested that an immunoglobulin-related protein other than alpha and lambda II was present in MOPC-315 cells, we undertook to derive molecular cDNA clones from the MRNA in MOPC-315 tumour cells. Analysis of the clones has now identified two lambda chain mRNA species: a normal lambda II chain mRNA and another which directs the synthesis of a deleted form of a lambda I protein. The nucleotide sequence of the deleted lambda I mRNA shows that it resulted from a joining of the sequence encoding amino acid 31 of the variable region directly to the constant region coding sequence.

Synthesis of immunoglobulin mu chain gene products precedes synthesis of light chains during B-lymphocyte development

Immunoglobulin (Ig) gene expression has been followed during the later stages of development of the murine fetal liver. Biosynthetic labeling and immunoprecipitation were used to isolate Ig-related polypeptides from fetal and neonatal livers. By examination of the specific immune precipitates, the earliest detectable Ig was shown to consist only of mu heavy chain. At about the time of birth, when light chain synthesis became evident, separation of surface Ig-positive cells from surface Ig-negative cells by using anti-Ig-coated dishes showed that cells lacking surface Ig (pre-B lymphocytes) synthesized only mu chains. Thus, commencement of light chain synthesis was closely coordinated with the appearance of surface Ig. Ig RNA species were examined by electrophoretic fractionation and hybridization with cloned Ig DNA sequences. The sizes and amounts of Ig mRNA were found to correlate with the pattern of mu and light chain protein biosynthesis. mu chain RNA species appeared earlier in gestation than light chain RNA did, and only after birth did light chain sequences reach levels equivalent to those of mu chain. Cell populations enriched in pre-B lymphocytes also contained an excess of mu over light chain mRNA.

Expression of J chain RNA in cell lines representing different stages of B lymphocyte differentiation

During B cell differentiation to pentamer IgM secretion, synthesis of the pentamer joining component, the J chain, is initiated. We investigated the mechanism for initiating J chain synthesis by analyzing murine cell lines representing different stages in B cell differentiation. The expression of functional J chain mRNA was evaluated by cell-free translation and specific immunoprecipitation of a J chain product. The expression of precursor mRNA was examined by hybridization with a J chain probe obtained by molecular cloning of cDNA. No J chain-specific RNA could be demonstrated in a lymphoma line representative of an undifferentiated B lymphocyte, but three species of J chain RNA were identified in hybrid cell lines representative of IgM-secreting plasma cells: a mature message of approximately 1.5 kb and two minor components of 2.5 and 0.92 kb. The encounter of a B cell with antigen or mitogen must therefore trigger events that effect either transcription of J chain sequences or their intranuclear stabilization.

Functional and non-functional joining in immunoglobulin light chain genes of a mouse myeloma

Leader, variable (V) and joining (J) gene segments, and adjacent regions of two rearranged alleles of the same kappa-chain producing mouse myeloma, comprising approximately 3,200 base pairs, have been sequenced. Sequence comparisons are reported. V-J joining in one of the alleles leads to a reading frame with a stop codon within the J-gene segments. Allelic exclusion is apparently realized in this tumour through the formation of such a non-functional allele.