Recombinant DNA clones constructed from immunoglobulin kappa light chain messenger RNA.

Recombinant DNA clones have been generated from mouse myeloma MOPC 21 immunoglobulin kappa light chain mRNA. Complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesized on kappa light chain mRNA by reverse transcriptase was made double stranded and inserted into the bacterial plasmid vector, pMB9. Approximately 70 tetracycline-resistant transformed colonies containing kappa light chain mRNA sequences were identified by colony hybridization. Five of these recombinant clones were selected and characterized. Three clones contain both kappa light chain constant and variable region sequences. Two of these three recombinant clones have been shown to include all of the kappa light chain constant and variable region coding sequences. Another of the five selected recombinant clones contain kappa light chain constant region sequences. The remaining characterized clone appears to be derived from sequences at the 5'-end of kappa light chain mRNA, possibly extending to the terminal cap structure.