Biomedical subjects

Hei-Lanne Dougier

Publications and source records attributed to Hei-Lanne Dougier.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Germ line transcription in mice bearing neor gene downstream of Igamma3 exon in the Ig heavy chain locus.

Class switch recombination (CSR) is preceded by germ line transcription that initiates from promoters upstream of switch (S) sequences and terminates downstream of associated constant genes. Previous work showed that germ line transcripts and their processing are required for CSR and that germ line transcription is regulated in a major part by a regulatory region located downstream of the Ig heavy chain locus. This long-range, polarized effect can be disturbed by inserting an expressed neomycine resistance (neo(r)) gene. To contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism of such a long-distance regulation, we generated knock-in mice in which a neo(r) gene was inserted downstream of Igamma3 exon leaving intact all the necessary elements for germ line transcription and splicing. We show that the expressed neo(r) gene interferes with transcription initiation from Igamma3, and that it impairs but does not block S recombination to Cgamma3. Moreover, we show for the first time that the neo(r) gene provides through chimeric neo(r)-Cgamma3 transcripts the necessary elements for splicing of germ line transcripts by activating two novel cryptic splice sites, one in the coding region of the intronless neo(r) gene and the other in the Igamma3-Cgamma3 intron.

Alternative Splicing↗

PubMed2006

Interallelic class switch recombination can reverse allelic exclusion and allow trans-complementation of an IgH locus switching defect.

The predominant path of immunoglobulin class switch recombination follows the paradigm of intra-chromosomal deletion enabling expression of another heavy chain instead of micro and delta. This was, however, challenged by observations of inter-allelic class switch recombination in rabbit or mouse IgG3- or IgA-producing B cells. Assuming that the conditions of inter-chromosomal exchange are likely present at any target S regions in stimulated B cells, we explored trans-association of VH and C genes in a model allowing all C genes to be checked simultaneously. Heterozygous mutant mice are thus studied, which carry one non-functional IgH allele inactivated by a non-translatable mutation of VDJ-CH transcripts, while the functional allele is deficient for class switching due to a truncated 3'regulatory region. A fair level of switching to all Ig classes is restored in heterozygous mice despite the fact that cis-recombination is either non productive on one allele or deficient on the other. Molecular evidence at the DNA level of trans-CSR to IgG3 was demonstrated by cloning and sequencing Smu-Sgamma3 hybrid junctions. These data demonstrate that inter-allelic recombination may broadly rescue the production of various class-switched isotypes and allow complementation between mutations located at both ends of the IgH constant gene cluster.

Alleles↗

PubMed2005

Interallelic class switch recombination contributes significantly to class switching in mouse B cells.

Except for the expression of IgM and IgD, DNA recombination is constantly needed for the expression of other Ig classes and subclasses. The predominant path of class switch recombination (CSR) is intrachromosomal, and the looping-out and deletion model has been abundantly documented. However, switch regions also occasionally constitute convenient substrates for interchromosomal recombination, since it is noticeably the case in a number of chromosomal translocations causing oncogene deregulation in the course of lymphoma and myeloma. Although asymmetric accessibility of Ig alleles should theoretically limit its occurrence, interallelic CSR was shown to occur at low levels during IgA switching in rabbit, where the definition of allotypes within both V and C regions helped identify interchromosomally derived Ig. Thus, we wished to evaluate precisely interallelic CSR frequency in mouse B cells, by using a system in which only one allele (of b allotype) could express a functional VDJ region, whereas only interallelic CSR could restore expression of an excluded (a allotype) allele. In our study, we show that interchromosomal recombination of V(H) and Cgamma or Calpha occurs in vivo in B cells at a frequency that makes a significant contribution to physiological class switching: trans-association of V(H) and C(H) genes accounted for 7% of all alpha mRNA, and this frequency was about twice higher for the gamma3 transcripts, despite the much shorter distance between the J(H) region and the Cgamma3 gene, thus confirming that this phenomenon corresponded to site-specific switching and not to random recombination between long homologous loci.

Alleles↗