Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

AID from bony fish catalyzes class switch recombination.

Vasco M Barreto1, Qiang Pan-Hammarstrom, Yaofeng Zhao

  • 1Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA.

The Journal of Experimental Medicine
|September 15, 2005
PubMed
Summary

The evolution of class switch recombination (CSR) in the adaptive immune system was not due to changes in the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) enzyme. Fish AID can perform CSR in mammalian cells, indicating its ancient potential.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

APOBEC2 deficiency disrupts hematopoietic lineage commitment, resulting in emergence of dual identity lymphocytes in mice and humans.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

High risk of hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia in myasthenia gravis patients with type I IFN autoantibodies.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026
Same author

FcγRIIB functions as an IgG transporter in the mammary gland.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

Systematic functional validation of IKAROS variants from patients and laboratory-generated mutations.

Blood advances·2025
Same author

Inborn errors of immunity: Manifestation, treatment, and outcome-an ESID registry 1994-2024 report on 30,628 patients.

Journal of human immunity·2025
Same author

A Response to the Letter to the Editor: Refining Risk and Redefining Stage: Hidden Implications of BAP1-Mutant Mesothelioma Shiuan-Chih Chen, MD, PhD; Yuan-Ti Lee, MD, PhD.

Journal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer·2025

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Class switch recombination (CSR) is a key lymphocyte-specific DNA modification in adaptive immunity, present in tetrapods but absent in fish.
  • Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) initiates CSR and is found in fish and tetrapods, though fish AID differs structurally from tetrapod orthologs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether evolutionary alterations in AID were necessary for the emergence of class switch recombination.
  • To determine if fish AID possesses the functional capacity for class switch recombination.

Main Methods:

  • Assayed Japanese puffer and zebra fish AID for class-switching activity in mouse B cells.
  • Compared structural features of fish AID with tetrapod orthologs, focusing on catalytic and carboxy-terminal domains.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Fish AID successfully catalyzed class switch recombination in mammalian B cells.
  • This indicates that the potential for CSR existed in AID prior to the divergence of teleost and tetrapod lineages.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of class switch recombination likely depended on the development of specific DNA elements (switch regions) and gene structures (multiple constant regions) in the IgH locus, rather than changes in AID itself.
  • Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) possessed the inherent capability for class switch recombination much earlier in vertebrate evolution than previously thought.