Regulation of immunoglobulin variable region gene assembly: Development of the primary antibody repertoire

✍ Scribed by Jeffrey E. Berman; Barbara A. Malynn; T. Keith Blackwell; Frederick W. Alt

• Book ID: 102759329
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 854 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.950050503

✦ Synopsis

The immune system can generate an almost infinite number of direrent antibody specificities, the s u m of which is the antibody repertoire. This article con- siders aspects of the mechanism and control of immunoglobulin variable ( V ) region gene assembly with a focus on how these factors may afect generation of the antibody repertoire in normal and disease states. New model systems to study the mechanism and control of V gene assembly are described, in particular the introduction of V gene recombination substrates into Abelson murine leukemia virus-trans formed pre-B cells. Finally, a model is presented which suggests that control of V gene assembly is mediated by regulating accessibility of substrate gene segments to recombinational machinery.