PubMed · 6438760
Immunoglobulin variable region genes.
Abstract
The picture that emerges of a V gene locus, albeit still sketchy, is one of a continuously evolving region, subject on occasion to quite dramatic flux due to the operation of gene conversion, transposing elements, recombination and unequal crossing over. The V genes are separated by surprisingly large tracts of DNA of unknown function which are 'littered' by a number of simple-sequence and moderately repetitive elements. The diversity of immunoglobulins is in part accounted for by selection operating on multiple germline genes: 100-300 for mouse VK and VH, but probably less for human VK and VH. Somatic recombinational and mutational mechanisms play a substantial role in increasing the diversity still further.
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S Cory. 1984. Immunoglobulin variable region genes.. https://doi.org/10.1159/000156923
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