scholarly journals UnAIDed Class Switching in Activated B-Cells Reveals Intrinsic Features of a Self-Cleaving IgH Locus

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Dalloul ◽  
Brice Laffleur ◽  
Zeinab Dalloul ◽  
Batoul Wehbi ◽  
Florence Jouan ◽  
...  

Activation-induced deaminase (AID) is the major actor of immunoglobulin (Ig) gene diversification in germinal center B-cells. From its first description, it was considered as mandatory for class switch recombination (CSR), and this discovery initiated a long quest for all of the AID-interacting factors controlling its activity. The mechanisms focusing AID-mediated DNA lesions to given target sequences remain incompletely understood with regards the detailed characterization of optimal substrates in which cytidine deamination will lead to double strand breaks (DSBs) and chromosomal cleavage. In an effort to reconsider whether such CSR breaks absolutely require AID, we herein provide evidence, based on deep-sequencing approaches, showing that this dogma is not absolute in both human and mouse B lymphocytes. In activated B-cells from either AID-deficient mice or human AID-deficient patients, we report an intrinsic ability of the IgH locus to undergo “on-target” cleavage and subsequent synapsis of broken regions in conditions able to yield low-level CSR. DNA breaks occur in such conditions within the same repetitive S regions usually targeted by AID, but their repair follows a specific pathway with increased usage of microhomology-mediated repair. These data further demonstrate the role of AID machinery as not initiating de novo chromosomal cleavage but rather catalyzing a process which spontaneously initiates at low levels in an appropriately conformed IgH locus.

Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 2376-2376
Author(s):  
Zhangguo Chen ◽  
Sawanee Viboolsittiseri ◽  
Maxwell Eder ◽  
Shunzong Yuan ◽  
Jing H. Wang

Abstract Abstract 2376 Activation induced deaminase (AID) initiates U:G mismatches that are subsequently converted into point mutations or DNA double-stranded breaks. AID-mediated DNA alterations in switch (S) regions at the Igh locus frequently occur in both antigen-stimulated germinal center (GC) B cells and cytokine-activated B cells. To investigate whether AID-initiated U:G lesions are differentially processed in a differentiation stage-specific manner at non-Ig loci to maintain genome stability, we established a knock-in model by inserting an Sg2b region into the first intron of proto-oncogene c-myc. We found that the inserted Sg2b region mutated at an extremely low level and did not enhance genomic instability of c-myc locus in antigen-stimulated GC B cells. In contrast, the inserted Sg2b region mutated more frequently and increased c-myc locus abnormalities in cytokine-activated B cells. Furthermore, uracil glycosylase deficiency led to increased mutation frequency at the c-myc locus. These results reveal that AID-initiated lesions are differentially processed via error-free or error-prone repair in a differentiation stage-specific and locus-dependent manner. Our data might provide mechanistic explanation for differential frequency of AID-mediated genetic alterations in distinct subtypes of common B cell lymphomas. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 83-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Bross ◽  
Heinz Jacobs

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR) take place in B cells of the germinal center (GC) and are associated with DNA double-strand breaks (DNA-DSBs). Transcription favors the generation of DNA-DSBs in the V-regions and switch regions of Ig genes. Both SHM and CSR are controlled by the Activation Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID), an enzyme exclusively expressed in B cells of the GC. Because AID is capable of deaminating deoxy-cytidine (dC) to deoxy-uracil (dU), it might directly induce nicks (single strand DNA breaks) and also DNA-DSBs via a U-DNA glycosylase mediated base excision repair pathway ('DNA-substrate model'). Alternatively, AID could function like its closest homologue Apobec-1 as a catalytic subunit of a RNA editing holoenzyme ('RNA-substrate model'). To determine whether AID lies upstream or downstream of the DNA lesions found in hypermutating Ig genes, we have analysed the Vλ locus of AID proficient and AID deficient GC B cells for the presence of DNA-DSBs. Although rearranged Vλ genes are preferred targets of SHM we find that AID-proficient and -deficient Vλ1/2-expressing GC B cells display a similar frequency, distribution and sequence preference of DNA-DSBs in rearranged and germline Vλ genes, favoring the idea that AID acts downstream of the DNA lesions to mediate error prone processing.


2009 ◽  
Vol 206 (13) ◽  
pp. 2907-2914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja A. Schwickert ◽  
Boris Alabyev ◽  
Tim Manser ◽  
Michel C. Nussenzweig

Germinal centers (GCs) are specialized structures in which B lymphocytes undergo clonal expansion, class switch recombination, somatic hypermutation, and affinity maturation. Although these structures were previously thought to contain a limited number of isolated B cell clones, recent in vivo imaging studies revealed that they are in fact dynamic and appear to be open to their environment. We demonstrate that B cells can colonize heterologous GCs. Invasion of primary GCs after subsequent immunization is most efficient when T cell help is shared by the two immune responses; however, it also occurs when the immune responses are entirely unrelated. We conclude that GCs are dynamic anatomical structures that can be reutilized by newly activated B cells during immune responses.


2004 ◽  
Vol 199 (5) ◽  
pp. 617-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Kenter ◽  
Robert Wuerffel ◽  
Carmen Dominguez ◽  
Ananth Shanmugam ◽  
Hongmei Zhang

Ig class switch recombination (CSR) requires expression of activation-induced deaminase (AID) and production of germline transcripts to target S regions for recombination. However, the mechanism of CSR remains unclear. Here we show that an extrachromosomal S plasmid assay is AID dependent and that a single consensus repeat is both necessary and sufficient for isotype-specific CSR. Transfected switch substrates specific for μ→γ3 and μ→γ1 are stimulated to switch with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alone or LPS and interleukin-4, respectively. An Sγ3/Sγ1 substrate containing only three Sγ3-associated nucleotides reconstituted LPS responsiveness and permitted mapping of a functional recombination motif specific for μ→γ3 CSR. This functional recombination motif colocalized with a binding site for NF-κB p50, and p50 binding to this site was previously established. We show a p50 requirement for plasmid-based μ→γ3 CSR using p50-deficient B cells. Switch junctions from p50-deficient B cells showed decreased lengths of microhomology between Sμ and Sγ3 relative to wild-type cells, indicating a function for p50 in the mechanics of CSR. We note a striking parallel between the affects of p50 and Msh2 deficiency on Sμ/Sγ3 junctions. The data suggest that p50 may be the isotype-specific factor in μ→γ3 CSR and epistatic with Msh2.


2002 ◽  
Vol 195 (9) ◽  
pp. 1193-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Nina Papavasiliou ◽  
David G. Schatz

Activation of B cells by antigen fuels two distinct molecular modifications of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes. Class-switch recombination (CSR) replaces the Igμ heavy chain constant region with a downstream constant region gene, thereby altering the effector function of the resulting antibodies. Somatic hypermutation (SHM) introduces point mutations into the variable regions of Ig genes, thereby changing the affinity of antibody for antigen. Mechanistic overlap between the two reactions has been suggested by the finding that both require the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). It has been proposed that AID initiates both CSR and SHM by activating a common nuclease. Here we provide evidence that cells lacking AID, or expressing a dominant negative form of the protein, are still able to incur DNA lesions in SHM target sequences. The results indicate that an intact cytidine deaminase motif is required for AID function, and that AID acts downstream of the initial DNA lesions in SHM.


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 1278-1288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumiko Tsukamoto ◽  
Yoshinori Nagai ◽  
Ai Kariyone ◽  
Takuma Shibata ◽  
Tsuneyasu Kaisho ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 197 (12) ◽  
pp. 1767-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo Reina-San-Martin ◽  
Simone Difilippantonio ◽  
Leif Hanitsch ◽  
Revati F. Masilamani ◽  
André Nussenzweig ◽  
...  

Changes in chromatin structure induced by posttranslational modifications of histones are important regulators of genomic function. Phosphorylation of histone H2AX promotes DNA repair and helps maintain genomic stability. Although B cells lacking H2AX show impaired class switch recombination (CSR), the precise role of H2AX in CSR and somatic hypermutation (SHM) has not been defined. We show that H2AX is not required for SHM, suggesting that the processing of DNA lesions leading to SHM is fundamentally different from CSR. Impaired CSR in H2AX−/− B cells is not due to alterations in switch region transcription, accessibility, or aberrant joining. In the absence of H2AX, short-range intra-switch region recombination proceeds normally while long-range inter-switch region recombination is impaired. Our results suggest a role for H2AX in regulating the higher order chromatin remodeling that facilitates switch region synapsis.


PLoS Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. e1009288
Author(s):  
Sandrine Le Noir ◽  
Amélie Bonaud ◽  
Bastien Hervé ◽  
Audrey Baylet ◽  
François Boyer ◽  
...  

DNA lesions inflicted by activation-induced deaminase (AID) instrumentally initiate the processes reshaping immunoglobulin genes in mature B-cells, from local somatic hypermutation (SHM) to junctions of distant breaks during class switch recombination (CSR). It remains incompletely understood how these divergent outcomes of AID attacks are differentially and temporally focused, with CSR strictly occurring in the Ig heavy chain (IgH) locus while SHM concentrates on rearranged V(D)J regions in the IgH and Ig light chain loci. In the IgH locus, disruption of either the 3’Regulatory Region (3’RR) super-enhancer or of switch (S) regions preceding constant genes, profoundly affects CSR. Reciprocally, we now examined if these elements are sufficient to induce CSR in a synthetic locus based on the Igκ locus backbone. Addition of a surrogate “core 3’RR” (c3’RR) and of a pair of transcribed and spliced Switch regions, together with a reporter system for “κ-CSR” yielded a switchable Igκ locus. While the c3’RR stimulated SHM at S regions, it also lowered the local SHM threshold necessary for switch recombination to occur. The 3’RR thus both helps recruit AID to initiate DNA lesions, but then also promotes their resolution through long-distance synapses and recombination following double-strand breaks.


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