| First Author | Bertocci B | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 203-11 |
| PubMed ID | 12932354 | Mgi Jnum | J:85190 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2673060 | Doi | 10.1016/s1074-7613(03)00203-6 |
| Citation | Bertocci B, et al. (2003) Immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene rearrangement is impaired in mice deficient for DNA polymerase mu. Immunity 19(2):203-11 |
| abstractText | DNA polymerase mu (pol mu) is a template-dependent polymerase closely related to the lymphoid-specific enzyme terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT). We report here the phenotype of pol mu-deficient mice. Such animals display an abnormal B cell differentiation, with a specific alteration in the IgM- to IgM+ transition in bone marrow. In all mice, Ig light chain gene rearrangement is impaired at the level of the Vkappa-Jkappa and Vlambda-Jlambda junctions, which show extensive nibbling of both coding extremities. These alterations lead to a profound defect in the peripheral B cell compartment which, although variable between animals, results in an average 40% reduction in the splenic B cell fraction. Pol mu appears, therefore, as a key element contributing to the relative homogeneity in size of light chain CDR3 and taking part in Ig gene rearrangement at a stage where TdT is no longer expressed. |
