title: Regulating infidelity: RNA-mediated recruitment of AID to DNA during class switch recombination.
abstract: The mechanism by which the DNA deaminase activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is specifically recruited to repetitive switch region DNA during class switch recombination is still poorly understood. Work over the past decade has revealed a strong link between transcription and RNA polymerase-associated factors in AID recruitment, yet none of these processes satisfactorily explain how AID specificity is affected. Here, we review a recent finding wherein AID is guided to switch regions not by a protein factor but by an RNA moiety, and especially one associated with a noncoding RNA that has been long thought of as being inert. This work explains the long-standing requirement of splicing of noncoding transcripts during class switching, and has implications in both B cell-mediated immunity as well as the underlying pathological syndromes associated with the recombination reaction.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: DiMenna
authors.affiliation: Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jayanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003564:Cytidine Deaminase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D017578:Immunoglobulin Class Switching / Q000235:genetics*; D007134:Immunoglobulin Switch Region / Q000235:genetics; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
chemical_list: D007136:Immunoglobulins; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA; D003564:Cytidine Deaminase
keywords: AID; Class switch recombination; Immunoglobulin; Noncoding/intronic RNA; Switch region