Abstract
THE expression of immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) genes is generally thought to be regulated by the combination of the VH promoter with the enhancer element which is located in the JH-CH intron1–4. This is probably an oversimplification: there are cell lines that transcribe IgH genes despite the deletion of the intron-enhancer5–8. These findings could imply that other enhancer element(s) exist in the IgH locus9–11. Here we show that a strong B-cell-specific enhancer is indeed located at the 3'-end of the rat IgH locus, 25 kilobases downstream of Cα. This enhancer should be retained downstream of all rearranged IgH genes, regardless of the VH or CH segment used. Taken together with analogous findings for the mouse κ locus12, the results prompt a re-evaluation of the mechanism of regulation of immunoglobulin gene transcription. Furthermore, unlike the intron-enhancer, the IgH 3' enhancer would become linked to a c-myc that rearranges into an IgH switch region. The IgH 3' enhancer could therefore play a part in the activation of the translocated c-myc genes in rat immuno-cytomas, mouse plasmacytomas and Burkitt lymphomas.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Banerji, J., Olson, L. & Schaffner, W. Cell 33, 729–740 (1983).
Gillies, S. D., Morrison, S. L., Oi, V. T. & Tonegawa, S. Cell 33, 717–728 (1983).
Neuberger, M. S. EMBO J. 2, 1373–1378 (1983).
Mason, J. O., Williams, G. T. & Neuberger, M. S. Cell 41, 479–487 (1985).
Klein, S., Sablitzky, F. & Radbruch, A. EMBO J. 3, 2473–2476 (1984).
Wabl, M. & Burrows, P. D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 2452–2455 (1984).
Aguilera, R. J., Hope, T. J. & Sakano, H. EMBO J. 4, 3689–3693 (1985).
Eckhardt, L. A. & Birshtein, B. K. Molec. Cell Biol 5, 856–868 (1985).
Klein, S., Gerster, T., Picard, D., Radbruch, A. & Schaffner, W. Nucleic Acids Res. 13, 8901–8912 (1985).
Grosschedl, R. & Marx, M. Cell 55, 646–654 (1988).
Schaffner, W. Nature 336, 427–428 (1988).
Meyer, K. B. & Neuberger, M. S. EMBO J. 8, 1959–1964 (1989).
Brüggemann, M. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 83, 6075–6079 (1986).
Brüggemann, M. Gene 74, 473–482 (1988).
Gerster, T., Matthias, P., Thali, M., Jiricny, J. & Schaffner, W. EMBO J. 6, 1323–1330 (1987).
Dreyfus, M., Doyen, N. & Rougeon, F. EMBO J. 6, 1685–1690 (1987).
Wirth, T., Staudt, L. & Baltimore, D. Nature 329, 174–178.
Ephrussi, A., Church, G. M., Tonegawa, S. & Gilbert, W. Science 227, 134–140 (1985).
Murre, C., McCaw, P. S. & Baltimore, D. Cell 56, 777–783 (1989).
Pettersson, S., Sharpe, M. J., Gilmore, D. R., Surani, M. A. & Neuberger, M. S. Int. Immun. 1, 509–516 (1989).
Alt, F. W., Blackwell, T. K. & Yancopoulos, G. D. Science 238, 1079–1087.
Pear, W. S. et al. Molec Cell Biol. 8, 441–451 (1988).
Croce, C. M. Cell 49, 155–156 (1987).
Neuberger, M. S. & Calabi, F. Nature 305, 240–243 (1983).
Jones, N. C. Rigby, P. W. J. & Ziff, E. B. Genes Dev. 2, 267–281 (1988).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pettersson, S., Cook, G., Brüggemann, M. et al. A second B cell-specific enhancer 3' of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus. Nature 344, 165–168 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/344165a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/344165a0
This article is cited by
-
Position and sequence conservation in Amniota of polymorphic enhancer HS1.2 within the palindrome of IgH 3'Regulatory Region
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2011)
-
The immunoglobulin heavy chain gene 3′ enhancers induce Bcl2 deregulation and lymphomagenesis in murine B cells
Leukemia (2011)
-
Increased Frequency of Ig Heavy-Chain HS1,2-A Enhancer *2 Allele in Dermatitis Herpetiformis, Plaque Psoriasis, and Psoriatic Arthritis
Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2008)
-
Cell-specific and efficient expression in mouse and human B cells by a novel hybrid immunoglobulin promoter in a lentiviral vector
Gene Therapy (2007)
-
Translocations involving c-myc and c-myc function
Oncogene (2001)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.