Rat immunoglobulin E heavy chain locus

A 2100 base-pair long sequence has been established which covers all four constant domains of the rat epsilon-chain. An analysis of messenger RNA from an immunoglobulin E producing rat immunocytoma revealed two separate epsilon-chain mRNA species, 2.3 X 10(3) and 2.8 X 10(3) base-pairs long. The latter mRNA encodes the membrane binding form of the epsilon-chain. The membrane exons which are located approximately 2 X 10(3) base-pairs away from the 3'-side of the CH4 exon were also sequenced. A comparison between the rat and mouse epsilon-chains at the protein sequence level revealed an overall homology of 80% which, as expected, is considerably higher than the homology found between rat and human epsilon-chains. The fourth constant domain together with the two membrane exons exhibited the highest degree of homology, 81 to 89%. Only two differences were found when the epsilon-chains from LOU and Sprague Dawley rats were compared. The most striking difference at the nucleotide sequence level between the rat, mouse, and human epsilon genes was found within the first intron. The mouse genome contains a unique 366 base-pair long sequence in this region. The inserted sequence is repetitive and present in approximately 100 copies in the mouse genome. It is flanked by 22 base-pair long direct repeats and contains also 14 base-pair long inverted repeats, thus having properties in common with transposable elements.