Flexible chromatin loops in the VH gene region of the Igh locus facilitate the generation of a diverse antibody repertoire

ABSTRACT: The immunoglobulin heavy-chain (Igh) locus undergoes large-scale contraction in pro-B cells, which facilitates VH-DJH recombination by juxtaposing distal VH genes next to the DJH- rearranged gene segment in the proximal Igh domain. By high-resolution mapping of long-range interactions, we now demonstrate that an array of local interaction domains establishes the three- dimensional structure of the extended Igh locus in lymphoid progenitors and thymocytes. In pro- B cells, these local domains engage in long-range interactions across the entire Igh locus, which depend on the transcription factors Pax5, YY1 and CTCF. The large VH gene cluster thereby undergoes flexible long-range interactions with the more rigidly structured 3M-bM-^@M-^Y proximal domain, which ensures that all VH genes can participate with similar probability in VH-DJH recombination to generate a diverse antibody repertoire. Notably, these long-range interactions appear to be an intrinsic feature of the VH gene cluster, as they are still generated upon mutation of the EM-NM-< enhancer, IGCR1 insulator or 3M-bM-^@M-^Y regulatory region present in the 3M-bM-^@M-^Y proximal Igh domain. 4C sequencing from mutliple celltypes with multiple viewpoints; uneven number of replicates ChIP-Seq

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

SUBMITTER: Meinrad Busslinger 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-43008 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress