Cell
Volume 29, Issue 2, June 1982, Pages 671-679
Journal home page for Cell

Article
Structure of human immunoglobulin gamma genes: implications for evolution of a gene family

https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(82)90183-0Get rights and content

Abstract

We have cloned five human immunoglobulin gamma genes from a fetal liver gene library. Four of them encode the known human immunoglobulin gamma chains γ1, γ2, γ3 and γ4. A fifth gamma gene seems to be a pseudogene. Nucleotide sequence determination demonstrates that the γ3 gene contains four separate hinge exons. Comparison of these hinge exons with those of the other gamma genes indicates that the first hinge exon is homologous to that of the pseudogene, and that the other three hinge exons are homologous to that of the γ1 gene, suggesting that the γ3 gene ancestor is a hybrid gene created by unequal crossing-over between the ancestral γ1 and ψγ genes. Amplification of the γ1-type hinge exon probably followed to complete the γ3 gene. This hypothesis inevitably postulates the gene order 5′-γ1-γ3-ψγ-3′. Cloning of overlapping chromosomal segments demonstrates that the γ2 gene is located 19 kb 5′ to the γ4 gene. These analyses indicate that the human gamma-gene family has evolved by several types of DNA rearrangement, including duplication of a complete gene; duplication of a hinge exon; and reassortment of exons by unequal crossing-over between two adjacent genes.

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