The size of the gene pool potentially encoding antibodies to p-azophenyl arsonate has been examined. A heavy chain-specific full-length complementary DNA clone has been constructed with the use of messenger RNA from a hybridoma that produces antibodies to the arsonate hapten and bears nearly a full complement of the determinants comprising the cross-reactive idiotype (CRI). The sequences of both the complementary DNA clone and the corresponding immunoglobulin heavy chain have been independently determined. A probe for the variable region gene was prepared from the original heavy chain complementary DNA clone and used to analyze, by Southern filter hybridization, genomic DNA from both A/J (CRI positive) and BALB/c (CRI negative) mice. Approximately 20 to 25 restriction fragments containing "germline" variable region gene segments were detected in both strains, and many are shared by both, Since 35 CRI-positive heavy chains have been partially sequenced thus far and 31 are different, the results of the hybridization analysis suggest that somatic mutation events involving the variable region gene segments of the heavy chain play a role in the origin of the amino acid sequence diversity seen in this system.