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Mol Cell Biol, February 1998, p. 1042-1048, Vol. 18, No. 2
0270-7306/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

A Nonimmunoglobulin Transgene and the Endogenous Immunoglobulin µ Gene Are Coordinately Regulated by Alternative RNA Processing during B-Cell Maturation

Rebecca L. Seipelt,^1, Brett T. Spear,^1,2,3 E. Charles Snow,^1,3 and Martha L. Peterson^1,2,3,*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology,¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,² and The Lucille Parker Markey Cancer Center,³ University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 40536

Received 7 August 1997/Returned for modification 13 October 1997/Accepted 3 November 1997

The immunoglobulin (Ig) genes have been extensively studied as model systems for developmentally regulated alternative RNA processing. Transcripts from these genes are alternatively processed at their 3' ends to yield a transcript that is either cleaved and polyadenylated at a site within an intron or spliced to remove the poly(A) site and subsequently cleaved and polyadenylated at a downstream site. Results obtained from expressing modified genes in established tissue culture cell lines that represent different stages of B-lymphocyte maturation have suggested that the only requirement for regulation is that a pre-mRNA contain competing cleavage-polyadenylation and splice reactions whose efficiencies are balanced. Since several non-Ig genes modified to have an Ig gene-like structure are regulated in cell lines, Ig-specific sequences are not essential for this control. This strongly implies that changes in the amounts or activities of general RNA processing components mediate the processing regulation. Despite numerous studies in cell lines, this model of Ig gene regulation has never been tested in vivo during normal lymphocyte maturation. We have now introduced a non-Ig gene with an Ig gene-like structure into the mouse germ line and demonstrate that RNA from the transgene is alternatively processed and regulated in murine splenic B cells. This establishes that the balance and arrangement of competing cleavage-polyadenylation reactions are sufficient for RNA processing regulation during normal B-lymphocyte development. These experiments also validate the use of tissue culture cell lines for studies of Ig processing regulation. This is the first transgenic mouse produced to test a specific model for regulated mRNA processing.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, 800 Rose St., Lexington, KY 40536-0093. Phone: (606) 257-5478. Fax: (606) 323-2094. E-mail: mlpete01{at}pop.uky.edu.

Present address: T.H. Morgan School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506.

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