V(D)J recombinase-mediated processing of coding junctions at cryptic recombination signal sequences in peripheral T cells during human development.
V(D)J recombinase mediates rearrangements at immune loci and cryptic recombination signal sequences (cRSS), resulting in a variety of genomic rearrangements in normal lymphocytes and leukemic cells from children and adults. The frequency at which these rearrangements occur and their potential pathologic consequences are developmentally dependent. To gain insight into V(D)J recombinase-mediated events during human development, we investigated 265 coding junctions associated with cRSS sites at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) locus in peripheral T cells from 111 children during the late stages of fetal development through early adolescence. We observed a number of specific V(D)J recombinase processing features that were both age and gender dependent. In particular, TdT-mediated nucleotide insertions varied depending on age and gender, including percentage of coding junctions containing N-nucleotide inserts, predominance of GC nucleotides, and presence of inverted repeats (Pr-nucleotides) at processed coding ends. In addition, the extent of exonucleolytic processing of coding ends was inversely related to age. We also observed a coding-partner-dependent difference in exonucleolytic processing and an age-specific difference in the subtypes of V(D)J-mediated events. We investigated these age- and gender-specific differences with recombination signal information content analysis of the cRSS sites in the human HPRT locus to gain insight into the mechanisms mediating these developmentally specific V(D)J recombinase-mediated rearrangements in humans.
Murray
Janet M
JM
Department of Pediatrics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
O'Neill
J Patrick
JP
Messier
Terri
T
Rivers
Jami
J
Walker
Vernon E
VE
McGonagle
Brien
B
Trombley
Lucy
L
Cowell
Lindsay G
LG
Kelsoe
Garnett
G
McBlane
Fraser
F
Finette
Barry A
BA
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D005815:Genetic Code; D048788:Growth and Development / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000235:genetics; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009711:Nucleotides; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012737:Sex Factors; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D045567:VDJ Recombinases / Q000502:physiology*
D009711:Nucleotides; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase; D045567:VDJ Recombinases