Comparison of mouse and rabbit Ei kappa enhancers indicates that different elements within the enhancer may mediate activation of transcription and recombination.

The intronic Ig kappa-light chain enhancer (Eikappa) has been implicated in regulation of transcription and Vkappa-Jkappa recombination at the kappa locus. To identify sequences within the Eikappa enhancer which are involved in control of recombination, we have made use of the finding that the Eikappa element from the rabbit b9 kappa locus is capable of inducing rearrangement, but not transcription of kappa genes in mouse lymphoid cells. We have therefore compared the binding of murine nuclear proteins to the mouse and rabbit Eikappa elements.

Methylation of the promoter region may be involved in tissue-specific expression of the mouse terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase gene.

The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase gene (TdT) is expressed in mice only in early B and T lymphoid precursors a few days after birth. Transactivating factors have been shown to contribute to the lymphoid specific expression of TdT, but they do not account entirely for the restriction of its expression to early precursors. Since tissue-specific expression can be modulated by other mechanisms such as DNA methylation and DNA accessibility, we evaluated the methylation pattern of the TdT gene in various expressing and non-expressing tissues and cell lines.

B lineage-restricted rearrangement of a human Ig kappa transgene.

To study the control of immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene rearrangement, we generated transgenic mice carrying a germ-line human kappa minilocus (HK) containing the J kappa-proximal V gene, V kappa IV, the V-J intergenic region, the five J kappa segments and the C kappa gene. This construct includes the intronic, but not the 3' kappa enhancer. Rearrangement of the HK transgene was found to be lymphoid specific and restricted to the B cell lineage.