| First Author | Cannon JP | Year | 2002 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | 1200-7 |
| PubMed ID | 12415263 | Mgi Jnum | J:80428 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2445860 | Doi | 10.1038/ni849 |
| Citation | Cannon JP, et al. (2002) Identification of diversified genes that contain immunoglobulin-like variable regions in a protochordate. Nat Immunol 3(12):1200-7 |
| abstractText | The evolutionary origin of adaptive immune receptors is not understood below the phylogenetic level of the jawed vertebrates. We describe here a strategy for the selective cloning of cDNAs encoding secreted or transmembrane proteins that uses a bacterial plasmid (Amptrap) with a defective beta-lactamase gene. This method requires knowledge of only a single target motif that corresponds to as few as three amino acids; it was validated with major histocompatibility complex genes from a cartilaginous fish. Using this approach, we identified families of genes encoding secreted proteins with two diversified immunoglobulin-like variable (V) domains and a chitin-binding domain in amphioxus, a protochordate. Thus, multigenic families encoding diversified V regions exist in a species lacking an adaptive immune response. |
