Two pairs of recombination signals are sufficient to cause immunoglobulin V-(D)-J joining

S Akira1, K Okazaki, H Sakano

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|November 20, 1987
PubMed

The minimum sequence requirements for antigen receptor V-(D)-J joining were studied by constructing recombination-substrates containing synthetic recombination signals and introducing them into a recombination-competent pre-B cell line. Two sets of heptamer (CACTGTG) and nonamer (GGTTTTTGT) sequences were shown to be sufficient to cause the V-(D)-J joining, if the 12- and 23-base pair spacer rule is satisfied. A point mutation in the heptamer sequence, or a change in the combination of the two spacer lengths, drastically reduced the recombination.

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