PREFERENTIAL V(H) V-LAMBDA PAIRINGS OCCUR IN THE AVAILABLE B-CELL REPERTOIRE OF ADULT BALB/C MICE

To gain insights into the composition of the B cell repertoire, we have investigated V(H) gene family expression associated with individual light chains. For this purpose, we have examined the use of 12 V(H) gene families in a large collection of hybridomas expressing one of the four lambda-light chains [lambda-1 (V1J1), lambda-2 (V2J2 and V x J2) and lambda-3 (V1J3)]. Our results show that the distribution of the VH families is very different from one lambda-subtype to another. This suggests that a few substitutions between V(L) regions are sufficient to generate very different associated repertoires by strong selection mechanisms. Moreover, we assume that the global V(H) expression pattern is not random but rather composed of many preferential V(H)/V(L) associations.