Germline

Germline antibodies are antibodies that have not been subject to somatic hypermutation.

Details

V-genes

• Heavy chains:
  • There are 7 human VH families containing 51 sequences.
• Light chains:
  • There are 16 human VL families containing 100 sequences (50 kappa and 50 lambda).
  • Mice only have three functional lambda V-gene segments (1).

J-genes

• Heavy chains:
  • There are six JH segments
• Light chains:
  • There are 5 J-kappa and 7 J-lambda segments

D-genes

• There are 25 D-segments for the heavy chains (none for the light chains).

1.

Shrock EL, Timms RT, Kula T, Mena EL, West AP, Guo R, et al. Germline-encoded amino acid–binding motifs drive immunodominant public antibody responses. Science. 2023;380(6640). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adc9498