Abstract
It is not known whether the antigen-specific receptor of T lymphocytes is encoded by conventional immunoglobulin genes. Several T-cell lines, as well as thymus cells, have been found to contain aberrant IgM mRNAs, but other T-cell lines are apparently negative1–4. Rearrangement of D and J gene segments which code for portions of immunoglobulin heavy (H) chain variable (V) regions has been observed in some T cells, but no complete V–D–J rearrangements, as required for H gene expression in B cells, have been found5. To investigate the chromatin structure around the Cμ gene in T lymphocytes, we have probed the regions flanking the gene by mild digestion with DNase I. We report here that T-lymphocyte chromatin exhibits sites hypersensitive to DNase I in a region 5′ of Cμ. In B cells, this region has been proposed to be responsible for switching to downstream CH genes.
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Storb, U., Arp, B. & Wilson, R. The switch region associated with immunoglobulin Cμ genes is DNase I hypersensitive in T lymphocytes. Nature 294, 90–92 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294090a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/294090a0
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