title: Transcriptional stalling in B-lymphocytes: a mechanism for antibody diversification and maintenance of genomic integrity.
abstract: B cells utilize three DNA alteration strategies-V(D)J recombination, somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR)-to somatically mutate their genome, thereby expressing a plethora of antibodies tailor-made against the innumerable antigens they encounter while in circulation. Of these three events, the single-strand DNA cytidine deaminase, Activation Induced cytidine Deaminase (AID), is responsible for SHM and CSR. Recent advances, discussed in this review article, point toward various components of RNA polymerase II "stalling" machinery as regulators of AID activity during antibody diversification and maintenance of B cell genome integrity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology; College of Physicians and Surgeons; Columbia University; New York, NY USA.
authors.forename: Jianbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Gerson
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rothschild
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pefanis
authors.forename: Uttiya
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Basu
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003564:Cytidine Deaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D017578:Immunoglobulin Class Switching; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000378:metabolism; D027041:Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin; D060152:V(D)J Recombination
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D012319:RNA Polymerase II; D003564:Cytidine Deaminase
keywords: Activation Induced Deaminase; RNA polymerase II regulation; somatic mutation