A 40-year-old man born in Bangladesh developed alpha heavy chain disease whilst a resident in the United Kingdom. An incomplete, low molecular weight alpha heavy chain protein, devoid of light chains was demonstrated in his serum. Clinical remission of his disease was achieved by antibiotics alone.

The chromosomal location of Ti alpha was determined by hybridization of a radiolabeled cDNA for the alpha chain of human T cell receptor with 12 human X mouse cell hybrid DNAs cleaved with BamHI. Seven hybrids contained human Ti alpha, while the remaining five lacked it. Only human chromosome 14 matched the distribution of human Ti alpha signal across the mapping panel. Hybrids segregating a ch...

A young Turkish girl presented with all the clinicopathological features of a digestive form of alpha chain disease. A gamma heavy chain disease protein, however, was found in her serum and also in the cells invading the intestinal mucosa and mesenteric lymph nodes.

Human plasma kallikrein consists of an N-terminal heavy chain of molecular weight (mol wt) 52,000, linked by disulfide bonds to two light chain variants (mol wt 36,000 or 33,000). Although the active catalytic site of kallikrein resides on the C-terminal light chain, the role of the N-terminal heavy chain is less clear. We therefore studied an enzyme designated beta-kallikrein, containing a sin...

Secretory immunoglobulin (Ig) A is a decameric Ig composed of four alpha-heavy chains, four light chains, a joining (J) chain, and a secretory component (SC). The heavy and light chains form two tetrameric Ig molecules that are joined by the J chain and associate with the SC. Expression of a secretory monoclonal antibody in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) has been described: this molecule (secretor...

We have examined the interactions of the enhancers of the kappa immunoglobulin light chain gene as well as the interactions of the intron, mu, and 3' alpha enhancers of the heavy chain locus in mouse. We have observed that each of the kappa enhancers is very weak in comparison with the heavy chain intron enhancer. The mouse heavy chain 3' alpha enhancer is relatively weak as well. However, two ...

To determine the chromosomal location of mouse immunoglobulin heavy chain structural genes unambiguously, a panel of somatic cell hybrids was scored for the presence of DNA sequences homologous to gamma 2b-, mu-, and alpha-heavy chain-constant region DNA probe molecules. The hybrids, formed between mouse and hamster cells, contained various combinations of mouse chromosomes plus a full set of h...

Insoluble, mature collagen fibers from bovine skin have been partially solubilized by mild, denaturing, but nonhydrolytic means. The soluble denatured collagen was fractionated by alcohol coacervation, and a fraction rich in high-molecular-weight alpha-chains was obtained. The heavy alpha-chains were isolated by carboxymethylcellulose chromatography. Renaturation, followed by measurements of op...

We have sequenced genomic clones spanning the complete coding region of one heavy chain (beta) and the catalytic domain of a second (alpha) of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii flagellar outer arm dynein ATPase. The beta heavy chain gene (ODA-4 locus) spans 20 kb, is divided into at least 30 exons, and encodes a predicted 520 kDa protein. Comparison with sea urchin beta dynein sequences reveals hom...

Biosynthesis of the immunoglobulin (Ig) receptor components and their assembly were examined in cell lines representative of early stages in human B lineage development. In pro-B cells, the nascent surrogate light chain proteins form a complex that transiently associates in the endoplasmic reticulum with a spectrum of unidentified proteins (40, 60, and 98 kD) and Bip, a heat shock protein famil...