A three-megabase yeast artificial chromosome Contig spanning the C57BL mouse Igh locus

Abstract : The mouse Ig H chain (Igh) complex locus is composed of >100 gene segments encoding the variable, diversity, joining, and constant portions of the Ab H chain protein. To advance the characterization of this locus and to identify all the VH genes, we have isolated the entire region from C57BL/6 and C57BL/10 as a yeast artificial chromosome contig. The mouse Ighlocus extends approximately three megabases and contains at least 134 VH genes classified in 15 partially interspersed families. Two non-Igh pseudogenes (Odc-rs8 and Rpl32-rs14 ) were localized in the distal part of the locus. This physical yeast artificial chromosome map will provide important structure and guidance for the sequencing of this large, complex, and highly repetitive locus.