Showing papers by "Fumihiko Matsuda published in 1995"

Immunoglobulin heavy chain loci of mouse and human

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the current knowledge of the organization and structure of the mouse and human immunoglobulin (IgH) loci and to discuss its biological significance and implications. The immunoglobulin (Ig) molecule is composed of the heavy (H) and light (L) chains, both of which consist of the variable (V) and constant (C) regions. The V-region is responsible for antigen binding, whereas the CH region specifies the isotype of Ig. The most important goal in the study of the human VH locus is to determine the total number of VH segments. Human and murine VH regions are divided into three subgroups based on amino acid sequences, which are further subdivided into six and 14 distinct VH families defined by nucleotide sequence homology, respectively. The complete physical map of the human VH locus contributes to the identification of germline origins of autoantibodies. All the human and murine CH genes are isolated and sequenced completely. The references for the complete CH gene sequences are also summarized.