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Immunology

RNA editing meets DNA shuffling

Nature volume 407, pages 31–33 (2000)Cite this article

In its battle against infection, the vertebrate immune system invokes a wide range of immune responses. One tactic is to produce protective proteins known as antibodies (also known as immunoglobulins). Antibodies are secreted by B cells and are encoded by immunoglobulin genes. DNA recombination, in which sequences of DNA are shuffled to create new genetic information, underlies the B cells' ability to generate different antibodies. In fully developed B cells, the immunoglobulin genes have often been shuffled in up to three different ways. The proteins responsible for the first of these ‘cut and paste’ methods have been identified, but the molecular mechanisms behind the other two processes have been elusive. Now, Revy and co-workers1 and Muramatsu and colleagues2, writing in Cell , provide a fascinating and unexpected clue to the solution. The authors offer evidence for the role of a new protein — oddly, an RNA-editing rather than a DNA-recombination enzyme — in both of these processes.

Different antibodies have different functions in the immune system. But they are all made up of a variable region that recognizes foreign substances and a constant region that elicits immune responses to the infection. The first genetic shuffling event that occurs in the immunoglobulin genes is called V(D)J recombination. This is used by developing B cells to assemble blocks of DNA into the gene segment that encodes the antibody's variable region3.

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Figure 1: Shuffling antibody genes.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Childrens' Hospital and Center for Blood Research, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, 02119, Massachusetts, USA

    Ming Tian & Frederick W. Alt

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  1. Ming Tian
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  2. Frederick W. Alt
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Correspondence to Frederick W. Alt.

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Tian, M., Alt, F. RNA editing meets DNA shuffling. Nature 407, 31–33 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35024189

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