B-cell receptor articles from across Nature Portfolio

B cell activation and differentiation entails metabolic remodelling, involving differential utilisation of monocarboxylates such as L-lactate and pyruvate. Here authors show by B-cell-specific genomic deletion of monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) that the consequential scarcity of pyruvate results in decreased acetylation of Histone H3 at K27, leading to decreased AID transcription and deficient class switching to IgG.

Zikherman and colleagues uncover a new mechanism by which B cells recognize virus-like antigen display as a stand-alone danger signal (independent of nucleic acid cargo) that does not rely exclusively on avidity and BCR cross-linking.

Targeting integrin-mediated retention of malignant B cells in their protective microenvironment is an efficacious treatment for lymphoma and leukemia. Here, the authors present an unbiased loss-of-adhesion CRISPR screening method, identifying therapeutic targets for these B-cell malignancies.

Long-distance V(D)J recombination is facilitated by contraction of the Igh locus and linear RAG scanning along chromatin, both driven by cohesin-mediated loop extrusion, which allows recombination of widely separated gene segments to occur.