Dataset Information

IgH class switching exploits a general property of two DNA breaks to be joined in cis over long chromosomal distances.

ABSTRACT: Antibody class switch recombination (CSR) in B lymphocytes joins two DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) lying 100-200 kb apart within switch (S) regions in the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus (IgH). CSR-activated B lymphocytes generate multiple S-region DSBs in the donor Sμ and in a downstream acceptor S region, with a DSB in Sμ being joined to a DSB in the acceptor S region at sufficient frequency to drive CSR in a large fraction of activated B cells. Such frequent joining of widely separated CSR DSBs could be promoted by IgH-specific or B-cell-specific processes or by general aspects of chromosome architecture and DSB repair. Previously, we found that B cells with two yeast I-SceI endonuclease targets in place of Sγ1 undergo I-SceI-dependent class switching from IgM to IgG1 at 5-10% of normal levels. Now, we report that B cells in which Sγ1 is replaced with a 28 I-SceI target array, designed to increase I-SceI DSB frequency, undergo I-SceI-dependent class switching at almost normal levels. High-throughput genome-wide translocation sequencing revealed that I-SceI-generated DSBs introduced in cis at Sμ and Sγ1 sites are joined together in T cells at levels similar to those of B cells. Such high joining levels also occurred between I-SceI-generated DSBs within c-myc and I-SceI- or CRISPR/Cas9-generated DSBs 100 kb downstream within Pvt1 in B cells or fibroblasts, respectively. We suggest that CSR exploits a general propensity of intrachromosomal DSBs separated by several hundred kilobases to be frequently joined together and discuss the relevance of this finding for recurrent interstitial deletions in cancer.

SUBMITTER: Gostissa M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3932927 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:During B cell development, RAG endonuclease cleaves immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) V, D, and J gene segments and orchestrates their fusion as deletional events that assemble a V(D)J exon in the same transcriptional orientation as adjacent Cμ constant region exons. In mice, six additional sets of constant region exons (CHs) lie 100-200kb downstream in the same transcriptional orientation as V(D)J and Cμ exons. Long repetitive switch (S) regions precede Cμ and downstream CHs. In mature B cells, class switch recombination (CSR) generates different antibody classes by replacing Cμ with a downstream CH. Activation Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID) initiates CSR by promoting deamination lesions within Sμ and a downstream acceptor S region; these lesions are converted into DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) by general DNA repair factors. Productive CSR must occur in a deletional orientation by joining the upstream end of an Sμ DSB to the downstream end of an acceptor S region DSB. However, the relative frequency of deletional to inversional CSR junctions had not been measured. Thus, whether orientation-specific joining is a programmed mechanistic feature of CSR as it is for V(D)J recombination and, if so, how this is achieved was unknown. To address this question, we adapted high throughput genome wide translocation sequencing (HTGTS) into a highly sensitive DSB end-joining assay and applied it to endogenous AID-initiated S region DSBs. We find that CSR indeed is programmed to occur in a productive deletional orientation and does so via an unprecedented mechanism that involves in cis IgH organizational features in combination with frequent S region DSBs initiated by AID. We further implicate ATM-dependent DSB response (DSBR) factors in enforcing this mechanism and provide a solution to the enigma of why CSR is so reliant on the 53BP1 DSBR factor. We performed high-throughput genome-wide translocation sequencing (HTGTS) with different B cell genotypes that induces either I-SceI or AID-initiated DSBs as bait to study their joining pattern to AID-initiated S region breaks Please note that the 'ΔSγ1_2xI/ΔSµ_2xI-3' raw data files were analyzed twice with different reference assemblies to address specific points, and associated with both 'ΔSγ1_2xI_ΔSµ_2xI-3'.txt and Sγ1_2xI_ΔSµ_2xI-3'_trans-Sm.txt processed data files. As for the reference genome mm9_129_IgHC, it is a custom built generated based on mm9 (Bl6 line based mouse genome) and the partial genome sequence of another mouse line 129sv. It is not currently available in any public database however can be easily obtained either from the authors or self-built using information provided in the associated manuscript.

Project description:BackgroundInversion Symmetry is a generalization of the second Chargaff rule, stating that the count of a string of k nucleotides on a single chromosomal strand equals the count of its inverse (reverse-complement) k-mer. It holds for many species, both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, for ranges of k which may vary from 7 to 10 as chromosomal lengths vary from 2Mbp to 200 Mbp. Building on this formalism we introduce the concept of k-mer distances between chromosomes. We formulate two k-mer distance measures, D1 and D2, which depend on k. D1 takes into account all k-mers (for a single k) appearing on single strands of the two compared chromosomes, whereas D2 takes into account both strands of each chromosome. Both measures reflect dissimilarities in global chromosomal structures.ResultsAfter defining the various distance measures and summarizing their properties, we also define proximities that rely on the existence of synteny blocks between chromosomes of different bacterial strains. Comparing pairs of strains of bacteria, we find negative correlations between synteny proximities and k-mer distances, thus establishing the meaning of the latter as measures of evolutionary distances among bacterial strains. The synteny measures we use are appropriate for closely related bacterial strains, where considerable sections of chromosomes demonstrate high direct or reversed equality. These measures are not appropriate for comparing different bacteria or eukaryotes. K-mer structural distances can be defined for all species. Because of the arbitrariness of strand choices, we employ only the D2 measure when comparing chromosomes of different species. The results for comparisons of various eukaryotes display interesting behavior which is partially consistent with conventional understanding of evolutionary genomics. In particular, we define ratios of minimal k-mer distances (KDR) between unmasked and masked chromosomes of two species, which correlate with both short and long evolutionary scales.Conclusionsk-mer distances reflect dissimilarities among global chromosomal structures. They carry information which aggregates all mutations. As such they can complement traditional evolution studies , which mainly concentrate on coding regions.

Dataset Information

IgH class switching exploits a general property of two DNA breaks to be joined in cis over long chromosomal distances.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets