Rearrangement-Enhancing Element Upstream of the Mouse Immunoglobulin Kappa Chain J Cluster

Abstract

Transcriptional regulatory elements have been shown to be necessary but not sufficient for the developmental regulation of immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in mouse precursor B cells. In the chicken λ light chain locus, additional elements in the V-J intervening sequence are involved in negative and positive regulation of rearrangement. Here, mutation of the mouse homolog of a chicken element, located in the V_κ-J_κ intervening sequence upstream of the J_κ cluster, was shown to significantly decrease rearrangement. This cis-acting recombination-enhancing element affects the rearrangement process without being involved in regulating transcription.