Immunoglobulin light chain (IgL) diversity is generated in the chicken by recombination between the single functional variable (VL) and joining (JL) gene segments and subsequent somatic diversification of the rearranged VL region. In order to determine whether these events are a general feature of avian IgL genes, we analyzed the organization and recombinatorial characteristics of the IgL loci of several other avian species. Southern blot analysis of bursal and germline DNA using chicken VL and constant (CL) probes revealed that the IgL loci of quail, mallard duck, pigeon, turkey, cormorant, and hawk consist of a family of VL elements, but undergo a single major rearrangement event similar to that observed in chickens. In contrast, several rearrangements were observed in the Muscovy duck locus. A phage clone containing a 26 kb insert that hybridized to VL and CL probes was isolated from a Muscovy duck erythrocyte DNA genomic library. Nucleotide sequencing revealed that the clone contained a single JL-CL region flanked on the 5' side by five VL segments. Unlike the chicken, two of the VL segments (VL1, VL5) appear to be functional. The remaining three VL segments are pseudogenes that lack promoter and leader sequences, but one of these (psi VL3) has recombination signal sequences. Overall, these data indicate that rearrangement of one VL gene segment is a general feature of the IgL locus in many avian species. In these species, the presence of a family of VL elements that do not rearrange suggests that a pseudogene pool may be available for somatic diversification by gene conversion. The organization of the Muscovy duck IgL locus suggests that additional combinatiorial diversity has evolved independently in some avian species.