A comprehensive analysis of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes in the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)

Abstract

Heavy chain only antibodies (HCAbs) represent a rare type of antibody that is devoid of light chains and the CH1 domain that have been reported in cartilaginous fish and camelids. By analyzing transcript data and genome sequences, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of Bactrian camel immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. Based on the transcript data, one μ gene, five γ genes, one α gene and one ε gene were found. Additionally, the variable region of HCAbs (VHH) and the conventional antibodies (VH) sequences associated with the γ3, γ1a/b and μ genes were amplified. Based on these genome sequences, seven DH, six JH, μ, γ2a, γ2c, α, and ε genes and a portion of a γ3 gene were observed. Different Kozak sequences within different VH families were found in our analysis, and the variability index differed between the VHH3 and VH3 families. Phylogenetic analysis of the constant regions of the camelid immunoglobulin genes indicates that these genes appeared before the evolutionary divergence of Bactrian camels and dromedaries.

Keywords

Bactrian camel / heavy-chain antibodies / VHH / γ3

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Laihui Lv for help with the statistical analysis.

Supplementary materials The online version of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2015056 contains supplementary materials (Appendix A and B).

Compliance with ethics guidelines Zuoxiang Liang, Tao Wang, Yi Sun, Wenlong Yang, Zhihong Liu, Jing Fei, Ying Guo, Qingwei Ma, Qingjie Pan and Liming Ren declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose.

All applicable institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg