Failure of B-cell differentiation in mice lacking the transcription factor EBF.
Early B-cell factor (EBF) is a cell type-specific transcription factor that is expressed at all antigen-independent stages of B-lymphocyte differentiation and participates in the regulation of the mb-1 gene. Here we show, by targeted gene disruption in mice, that EBF is necessary for the generation of immunoglobulin-expressing B cells. EBF-deficient mice lack B cells that have rearranged their immunoglobulin D and JH gene segments, but contain B220+CD43+ progenitor cells that express germline mu and IL-7 receptor transcripts. Various non-lymphoid tissues that express EBF are apparently normal in homozygous mutant mice, including olfactory neurons in which EBF was identified as Olf-1 (refs 5, 6). Together, these data suggest that EBF plays a specific and important role in the transcriptional control of B-cell differentiation at a stage before Ig (immunoglobulin) gene rearrangement but after commitment of cells to the B-lymphoid lineage.
Lin
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco 94143, USA.
Grosschedl
R
R
D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000235:genetics; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D051925:CD79 Antigens; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015322:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D015703:Antigens, CD; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D051925:CD79 Antigens; C497882:Cd79a protein, mouse; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C489921:Ebf1 protein, mouse; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell; D015534:Trans-Activators; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens