DIVERSE EXPRESSION OF GROUP a ALLOTYPE SPECIFICITIES ON THE HEAVY CHAINS OF HOMOGENEOUS RABBIT ANTIBODIES

Variations in the ability of homogeneous antibodies to absorb group a allotype antisera suggest that these V(H) region allotypes comprise a spectrum of specificities. While no homogeneous antibody tested would completely absorb antisera to the group a specificities, the total IgG preparations from individual rabbits was capable of doing so, including preimmune IgG from the rabbits that produced the homogeneous antibodies. Differences in the serologic reactivities of homogeneous antibodies indicate that each possesses only a portion of the spectrum of the allotypic specificities expressed by the total IgG.