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Passenger transgenes reveal intrinsic specificity of the antibody hypermutation mechanism: clustering, polarity, and specific hot spots.

We have analyzed somatic hypermutation in mice carrying an immunoglobulin kappa transgene in order to discriminate mutations that reflect the intrinsic specificity of the hypermutation mechanism from those highlighted by antigenic selection. We have immunized animals with three different immunogens. With one immunogen, the antigen-specific B cells express a transgenic kappa chain, which does not form part of the antibody; the transgene is a passenger free to accumulate unselected mutations. With the other two immunogens, the transgenic kappa chain constitutes the light chain of the expressed antibody. A comparison of the transgene mutations obtained under these different circumstances allows us to identify common features that we attribute to the intrinsic specificity of the hypermutation process. In particular, it yields only base substitutions and leads to hot spots occurring in individual positions (e.g., the second base of the Ser-31 codon). The mutations preferentially accumulate around the first complementarity-determining region. The process exhibits specific base substitution preferences with transitions being favored over transversions. We propose that these substitution preferences can be used to discriminate intrinsic from antigen-selected hot spots. We also note that hypermutation distinguishes between the coding and noncoding strands since pyrimidines (particularly thymidines) mutate less frequently than purines.