Organization of the murine Cd22 locus: Mapping to chromosome 7 and characterization of two alleles

Murine CD22 (mCD22) is a B cell-associated adhesion protein with seven extracellular Ig-like domains that has 62% amino acid identity to its human homologue. Southern analysis on genomic DNA isolated from tissues and cell lines from several mouse strains using mCD22 cDNA demonstrated that the Cd22 locus encoding mCD22 is a single copy gene of ≤30 kb. Digestion of genomic DNA preparations with four restriction endonucleases revealed the presence of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) in BALB/c, C57BL/6, and C3H strains vs DBA/2J, NZB, and NZC strains, suggesting the presence of two or more Cd22 alleles. Using a mCD22 cDNA clone derived from the BALB/c strain, we isolated genomic clones from a DBA/2J genomic library that contained all the exons necessary to encode the full length mCD22 cDNA. Fifteen exons, including exon 3 that encodes the translation start codon, were identified. Each extracellular Ig-like domain of mCD22 is encoded by a single exon. A comparison between the nucleotide sequences of the BALB/c CD22 cDNA and the exons of the DBA/2J CD22 genomic clones revealed an 18-nucleotide deletion in exon 4 (encoding the most distal Ig-like domain 1 of mCD22) of the DBA/2J genomic sequence in addition to a number of substitutions, insertions, and deletions in other exons. These nucleotide differences were also present in a cDNA clone isolated from total RNA of LPS-activated DBA/2J splenocytes by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The Cd22 locus was mapped to the proximal region of chromosome 7, a region sytenic to human chromosome 19q, close to the previously reported loci, Lyb-8 and Mag (a homologue of Cd22). An antibody (CY34) against the Lyb-8.2 B cell marker reacted with a BHK transfectant expressing the full length mCD22 cDNA, thus demonstrating that Lyb-8 and Cd22 loci are identical. Furthermore, a rat anti-mCD22 mAb, NIM-R6, bound to sIgM⁺ DBA/2J B cells, confirming the expression of a CD22 protein by the Cd22^a/Lyb-8^a allele.