Zinc-finger protein ZFP318 is essential for expression of IgD, the alternatively spliced Igh product made by mature B lymphocytes
Abstract
Mammalian B lymphocytes make antibodies of five different heavy chain isotypes, IgM, IgD, IgG, IgE, and IgA. The different isotypes are produced at discrete stages in B-cell development from a single immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) gene, either by irreversible rearrangement of the gene to make IgG, IgE, or IgA or by alternative splicing of the RNA transcribed from the Igh gene to coexpress IgM and IgD. Developmentally regulated trans-acting factors have been hypothesized to control IgM and IgD expression from large Igh RNAs, but these factors have remained elusive for several decades. Here, using a genome-wide mutation screen in mice, we identify an obscure gene, Zfp318, as encoding a specific and essential factor promoting IgD expression in mature B cells.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- March 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1402739111
- Bibcode:
- 2014PNAS..111.4513E