title: Silencing of the expression of the immunoglobulin kappa gene in non-B cells.
abstract: Although the activating factor NF-kappa B can be present in the nucleus of many cell types, transcription and rearrangement of the immunoglobulin kappa chain gene is restricted to cells of the B lineage. Part of this specificity is determined by sequences within the major intron of the kappa gene that specifically silence gene expression in non-B cells (T cells and HeLa cells). These sequences are found in a 232-bp fragment located 5' of the NF-kappa B binding sequence of the enhancer. When this fragment is added back upstream of an active NF-kappa B site, it specifically decreases the expression of a linked gene by more than 10-fold in activated T cells but it has no effect on expression in B cells. The kappa silencer region acts in an orientation- and distance-independent manner and appears to be composed of multiple negative elements. The kappa silencer may act to restrict transcription and rearrangement of the C kappa locus to cells of the B lineage.
authors.affiliation: Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gifford
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baltimore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007438:Introns; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains