Work

V(D)J recombination is not activated by demethylation of the kappa locus

Year: 2000

Type: article

Abstract: V(D)J recombination is thought to be regulated by changes in the accessibility of target sites, such as modulation of methylation. To test whether demethylation of the kappa locus can activate recombination, we generated two recombinationally active B cell lines in which the gene for maintenance of genomic DNA methylation, Dnmt1, was flanked with loxP sites. Transduction with a retrovirus expressing both the cre recombinase and green fluorescent protein allowed us to purify recombinationally active cells devoid of methylation. Loss of methylation of the kappa locus was not sufficient to activate recombination, although transcription was activated in one line. It appears that demethylation of the kappa locus is not the rate-limiting step for altering accessibility and thus regulated demethylation does not generate specificity of recombination.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.150218497

Authors: Sara R. Cherry, Caroline Beard, Rudolf Jaenisch, David Baltimore

Institutions: California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Epigenetics and DNA Methylation

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2144609004

FWCI: 1.915

Cites: 44

Cited by: 40

Related to: 10