pmIG

pmIG provides a population-matched catalogue of human immunoglobulin (Ig) germline alleles to support analyses of B-cell repertoires and receptor selection across diverse human populations.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive Allele Catalogue: Systematic identification from 26 human populations yields 409 IGHV, 179 IGKV, and 199 IGLV germline alleles, each supported by at least seven haplotypes and defined without somatic hypermutation.
• High Accuracy and Completeness: Candidate alleles were cross-referenced with ENSEMBL, TOPMed, ExAC, and ProjectMine to remove potential false positives and increase sequence reliability.
• Population-Specific Diversity Insights: The dataset reveals highest allelic diversity in IGH and IGL loci among African populations and highest IGK locus diversity in Europeans.
• Evolutionary Patterns: Identified variant nucleotides show non-random position-specific patterns that align with variants reported in other immunoglobulin databases, consistent with selection rather than sequencing error.
• Recombination Signal Sequences (RSS): Presence of RSS in V pseudogenes involved in V(D)J rearrangements is reported, expanding observations of elements relevant to Ig gene recombination.
• Research Applications: The catalogue supports analyses of B-cell repertoire composition and receptor selection processes across populations for immunogenetic research.
• Population-Matched Resource: A population-matched set of germline Ig sequences enables investigations that can inform tailored vaccination strategies, including studies relevant to pandemics such as SARS-CoV-2.

Scientific Applications:

• B-cell repertoire analysis: Comparative studies of V gene usage and allelic contributions across populations to inform repertoire characterization.
• Antibody response research: Investigation of antibody-based immune responses in infectious diseases and other immune-related conditions with population-specific germline context.
• Vaccine strategy development: Evaluation of how population-specific germline variation may affect vaccine-elicited antibody responses and guide tailored vaccination approaches.

Methodology:

Alleles were systematically identified from the 1000 Genomes Project across 26 populations, defined as sequences without somatic hypermutation and supported by ≥7 haplotypes, with candidate alleles cross-referenced against ENSEMBL, TOPMed, ExAC, and ProjectMine to exclude false positives; presence of RSS in V pseudogenes was reported and final allele sequences were provided in FASTA format.