Igl - immunoglobulin lambda chain complex Gene

Also known as Igl-x

About Igl

Summary

Immunoglobulins recognize foreign antigens and initiate immune responses such as phagocytosis and the Complement System. Each immunoglobulin molecule consists of two identical heavy chains and two identical light chains. There are two classes of light chains, kappa and lambda. This region represents the germline organization of the lambda light chain locus from the C57BL/6J inbred mouse strain. The locus includes V (variable), J (joining), and C (constant) segments. During B cell development, a recombination event at the DNA level joins a single V segment with a J segment; the C segment is later joined by splicing at the RNA level. This locus has four J-C clusters and three V segments that constitute two transcriptional units. One of the J-C clusters is incapable of encoding a protein; the J and C gene segments in this cluster are considered pseudogenes. Inbred strains of laboratory mice lack an additional J-C cluster of pseudogenes and several additional V segments that are found in wild mice. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]