A single pre-B cell can give rise to antigen-specific B cells that utilize distinct immunoglobulin gene rearrangements

Abstract

A group of hybridomas that express antibodies with related specificities for the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA), that represent B cells that were the clonal progeny of a single pre-B cell, and that utilized distinct L chain gene rearrangements have been characterized. The clonal relationship was established by the sharing of H chain gene rearrangements at both the productive and the nonproductive alleles. Among these hybridomas, one group had rearranged only one of its κ alleles, having joined a Vκ24 gene to the Jκ2 gene segment. The other group utilized the same Vκ24 gene segment in productive rearrangement to the Jκ5 gene segment, and shared an aberrant rearrangement at the nonproductive κ allele. Accordingly, the expression of distinct Ig gene rearrangements among members of the same B cell clone can normally occur, and can contribute to the generation and diversification of the immune repertoire that is available for the recognition of foreign antigens. Mechanisms by which the distinct rearrangements expressed by the hybridomas might have been generated are discussed.