J. Exp. Med., Volume 189, Number 1, January 4, 1999 75-88

Rearrangement and Expression of Immunoglobulin Light Chain Genes Can Precede Heavy Chain Expression during Normal B Cell Development in Mice

By Tatiana I. Novobrantseva, Verena M. Martin, Roberta Pelanda, Werner Müller, Klaus Rajewsky, and Andreas Ehlich

From the Institute for Genetics, University of Cologne,Weyertal 121, 50931 Cologne, Germany

In mouse mutants incapable of expressing µ chains, VJ joints are detected in the CD43⁺ B cell progenitors. In agreement with these earlier results, we show by a molecular single cell analysis that 4-7% of CD43⁺ B cell progenitors in wild-type mice rearrange immunoglobulin (Ig) genes before the assembly of a productive V_HD_HJ_H joint. Thus, µ chain expression is not a prerequisite to Ig light chain gene rearrangements in normal development. Overall, ~15% of the total CD43⁺ B cell progenitor population carry Ig gene rearrangements in wild-type mice. Together with the results obtained in the mouse mutants, these data fit a model in which CD43⁺ progenitors rearrange IgH and Ig loci independently, with a seven times higher frequency in the former. In addition, we show that in B cell progenitors VJ joining rapidly initiates  chain expression, irrespective of the presence of a µ chain.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Wakayama, S., Ohta, H., Hikichi, T., Mizutani, E., Iwaki, T., Kanagawa, O., Wakayama, T. (2008). Production of healthy cloned mice from bodies frozen at -20{degrees}C for 16 years. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 17318-17322 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wang, H., Feng, J., Qi, C.-F., Li, Z., Morse, H. C. III, Clarke, S. H. (2007). Transitional B Cells Lose Their Ability to Receptor Edit but Retain Their Potential for Positive and Negative Selection. J. Immunol. 179: 7544-7552 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Inlay, M. A., Lin, T., Gao, H. H., Xu, Y. (2006). Critical roles of the immunoglobulin intronic enhancers in maintaining the sequential rearrangement of IgH and Igk loci. JEM 203: 1721-1732 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Nijnik, A., Ferry, H., Lewis, G., Rapsomaniki, E., Leung, J. C. H., Daser, A., Lambe, T., Goodnow, C. C., Cornall, R. J. (2006). Spontaneous B cell hyperactivity in autoimmune-prone MRL mice. Int Immunol 18: 1127-1137 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kersseboom, R., Ta, V. B. T., Zijlstra, A. J. E., Middendorp, S., Jumaa, H., Fokko van Loo, P., Hendriks, R. W. (2006). Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase and SLP-65 Regulate Pre-B Cell Differentiation and the Induction of Ig Light Chain Gene Rearrangement.. J. Immunol. 176: 4543-4552 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• McDevit, D. C., Perkins, L., Atchison, M. L., Nikolajczyk, B. S. (2005). The Ig{kappa}3' Enhancer Is Activated by Gradients of Chromatin Accessibility and Protein Association. J. Immunol. 174: 2834-2842 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kracker, S., Bergmann, Y., Demuth, I., Frappart, P.-O., Hildebrand, G., Christine, R., Wang, Z.-Q., Sperling, K., Digweed, M., Radbruch, A. (2005). Nibrin functions in Ig class-switch recombination. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 1584-1589 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Fuentes-Panana, E. M., Bannish, G., Shah, N., Monroe, J. G. (2004). Basal Ig{alpha}/Ig{beta} Signals Trigger the Coordinated Initiation of Pre-B Cell Antigen Receptor-Dependent Processes. J. Immunol. 173: 1000-1011 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Galler, G. R., Mundt, C., Parker, M., Pelanda, R., Martensson, I.-L., Winkler, T. H. (2004). Surface {micro} Heavy Chain Signals Down-Regulation of the V(D)J-Recombinase Machinery in the Absence of Surrogate Light Chain Components. JEM 199: 1523-1532 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Jasper, P. J., Zhai, S.-K., Kalis, S. L., Kingzette, M., Knight, K. L. (2003). B Lymphocyte Development in Rabbit: Progenitor B Cells and Waning of B Lymphopoiesis. J. Immunol. 171: 6372-6380 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Oberdoerffer, P., Novobrantseva, T. I., Rajewsky, K. (2003). Expression of a Targeted {lambda}1 Light Chain Gene Is Developmentally Regulated and Independent of Ig{kappa} Rearrangements. JEM 197: 1165-1172 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kalmanovich, G., Mehr, R. (2003). Models for Antigen Receptor Gene Rearrangement. III. Heavy and Light Chain Allelic Exclusion. J. Immunol. 170: 182-193 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hayden, T. A., Riegert, P., Kline, G. H. (2002). Detection of Functional VH81X Heavy Chains in Adult Mice with an Assessment of Complementarity-Determining Region 3 Diversity and Capacity to Form Pre-B Cell Receptor. J. Immunol. 169: 1970-1977 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kline, G. H., Hayden, T. A., Riegert, P. (2001). The Initiation of B Cell Clonal Expansion Occurs Independently of Pre-B Cell Receptor Formation. J. Immunol. 167: 5136-5142 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Casellas, R., Shih, T.-A. Y., Kleinewietfeld, M., Rakonjac, J., Nemazee, D., Rajewsky, K., Nussenzweig, M. C. (2001). Contribution of Receptor Editing to the Antibody Repertoire. Science 291: 1541-1544 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• LeBien, T. W. (2000). Fates of human B-cell precursors. Blood 96: 9-23 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Popov, A. V., Zou, X., Xian, J., Nicholson, I. C., Bruggemann, M. (1999). A Human Immunoglobulin lambda  Locus Is Similarly Well Expressed in Mice and Humans. JEM 189: 1611-1620 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hayashi, K., Nittono, R., Okamoto, N., Tsuji, S., Hara, Y., Goitsuka, R., Kitamura, D. (2000). The B cell-restricted adaptor BASH is required for normal development and antigen receptor-mediated activation of B cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 2755-2760 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search

TABLE OF CONTENTS