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Summary: Annu. Rev. Immunol. 1996. 14:45981
Copyright c 1996 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved
ACCESSIBILITY CONTROL OF
ANTIGEN-RECEPTOR
VARIABLE-REGION GENE
ASSEMBLY: Role of cis-Acting Elements
Barry P. Sleckman, James R. Gorman and Frederick W. Alt
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Children's Hospital and Department
of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Center for Blood Research,
320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
KEY WORDS: accessibility, V(D)J recombination, lymphocyte development, transcriptional
control elements
ABSTRACT
Antigen receptor variable region genes are assembled from germline variable
(V),diversity(D),andjoining(J)genesegments. Thisprocessrequiresexpression
of V(D)J recombinase activity, and "accessibility" of variable gene segments to
this recombinase. The exact mechanism by which variable gene segments become
accessible during development is not known. However, several studies have
shown that cis-acting elements that regulate transcription may also function to
regulate accessibility. Here we review the evidence that transcriptional promoters,
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