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Mol Cell Biol, February 1998, p. 1042-1048, Vol. 18, No. 2
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.
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

*
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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