title: An antibody VH gene that promotes marginal zone B cell development and heavy chain allelic inclusion.
abstract: The Ig heavy (H) chain plays a pivotal role in the regulation of primary B cell development through its association with a variety of other proteins including Igalpha and Igbeta, the surrogate light chain components and bona fide L chains, to form transmembrane signaling complexes. Little is known about how alterations in the structure of the H chain variable region influence association with these proteins, or the signaling capacity of the complexes that form. Here we describe a line of VH 'knockin' mice in which the transgene-encoded VH region differs by eight amino acid residues from the VH region in a VH knockin line we previously constructed and characterized. The transgenic H chain locus in the line of mice we characterized earlier efficiently promotes H chain allelic exclusion and all phases of primary B cell development, resulting in the generation of mature B1, marginal zone (MZ) and follicular (FO) B cell compartments. In contrast, the transgenic H chain locus in the new line fails to enforce allelic exclusion, as evidenced by the majority of peripheral B cells expressing two H chains on their surfaces. Moreover, this locus inefficiently drives bone marrow B lymphopoiesis and FO B cell development. However, this H chain locus does promote MZ B cell development, from precursors that appear to be generated during fetal and neonatal life. We discuss these data in the context of previous findings on the influence of Ig H chain structure on primary B cell development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heltemes-Harris
authors.forename: Xiaohe
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018858:Germinal Center / Q000276:immunology*; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D007137:Immunoglobulin alpha-Chains / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D007137:Immunoglobulin alpha-Chains