HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wang, C. L. Articles by Wabl, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wang, C. L. Articles by Wabl, M.

DNA Acrobats of the Ig Class Switch ¹

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143

Small resting B lymphocytes all start out producing IgM Abs. Upon encountering Ag, the cells become activated and make a switch from IgM to other Ig classes. This class switch serves to distribute a particular V region to different Ig C regions. Each C region mediates a specialized effector function, and so, through switching, an organism can guide its Abs to various sites. Creating the new H chain requires loop-out and deletion of DNA between switch regions. These DNA acrobatics require transcription of the switch regions, presumably so that necessary factors can gain access to the DNA. These requisite switching factors include activation-induced cytidine deaminase and components of general DNA repair, including base excision repair, mismatch repair, and double-strand break repair. Despite much recent progress, not all important factors have been discovered, especially those that may guide recombination to a particular subclass.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. E. Butler and N. Wertz Antibody Repertoire Development in Fetal and Neonatal Piglets. XVII. IgG Subclass Transcription Revisited with Emphasis on New IgG3 J. Immunol., October 15, 2006; 177(8): 5480 - 5489. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. C. Hope, S. M. Mense, M. Jalakas, J. Mitsumoto, and G. A. Freyer Rqh1 blocks recombination between sister chromatids during double strand break repair, independent of its helicase activity PNAS, April 11, 2006; 103(15): 5875 - 5880. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. I. Niesen, A. R. Osborne, H. Yang, S. Rastogi, S. Chellappan, J. Q. Cheng, J. M. Boss, and G. Blanck Activation of a Methylated Promoter Mediated by a Sequence-specific DNA-binding Protein, RFX J. Biol. Chem., November 25, 2005; 280(47): 38914 - 38922. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. E. Schrader, J. Vardo, E. Linehan, M. Z. Twarog, L. J. Niedernhofer, J. H.J. Hoeijmakers, and J. Stavnezer Deletion of the Nucleotide Excision Repair Gene Ercc1 Reduces Immunoglobulin Class Switching and Alters Mutations Near Switch Recombination Junctions J. Exp. Med., August 2, 2004; 200(3): 321 - 330. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]