The class I major histocompatibility antigen gene activated in a line of SV40-transformed mouse cells is H-2Dd, not Qa/Tla.

Abstract

We have previously described several complementary DNA clones isolated because they correspond to messenger RNAs present at higher levels in the simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed BALB/c 3T3 cell line SV3T3 Cl38 than in the normal, parental BALB/c 3T3 line. One of these clones, pAG64, hybridizes to RNAs which, while present in BALB/c 3T3 cells, are 10-20-fold more abundant in SV3T3 Cl38 and are found at high levels in a wide variety of transformed cell lines. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that pAG64 encodes a class I antigen of the major histocompatibility complex. To ascertain the identity of pAG64, we compared its sequence with the available sequences of d haplotype class I antigen genes [K locus, L locus, D locus and the Qa gene defined by genomic clone 27.1] and found that it showed multiple clustered differences from each of these sequences. We therefore concluded that it was not derived from the H-2Kd, H-2Ld or H-2Dd genes and thus must correspond to one of the other class I antigen genes, namely those of the Qa/Tla complex, although it was clearly not the Qa gene defined by the genomic clone 27.1. We now report subsequent findings which indicate that pAG64 in fact corresponds to the H-2Dd gene and not to a Qa/Tla gene.