A B cell-deficient mouse by targeted disruption of the membrane exon of the immunoglobulin μ chain gene

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	A B cell-deficient mouse by targeted disruption of the membrane exon of the immunoglobulin μ chain gene
Creators Name:	Kitamura, D., Roes, J., Kühn, R. and Rajewsky, K.
Abstract:	Of the various classes of antibodies that B lymphocytes can produce, class M (IgM) is the first to be expressed on the membrane of the developing cells. Pre-B cells, the precursors of B-lymphocytes, produce the heavy chain of IgM (μ chain), but not light chains. Recent data suggest that pre-B cells express mu chains on the membrane together with the 'surrogate' light chains lambda 5 and V pre B (refs 2-7). This complex could control pre-B-cell differentiation, in particular the rearrangement of the light-chain genes. We have now assessed the importance of the membrane form of the μ chain in B-cell development by generating mice lacking this chain. We disrupted one of the membrane exons of the gene encoding the μ-chain constant region by gene targeting in mouse embryonic stem cells. From these cells we derived mice heterozygous or homozygous for the mutation. B-cell development in the heterozygous mice seemed to be normal, but in homozygous animals B cells were absent, their development already being arrested at the stage of pre-B-cell maturation.
Keywords:	B-Cell Antigen Receptors, B-Lymphocyte Differentiation Antigens, B-Lymphocytes, DNA Mutational Analysis, Flow Cytometry, Hematopoiesis, Immunoglobulin Genes, Immunoglobulin Light Chains, Immunoglobulin mu-Chains, Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes, Membrane Glycoproteins, Southern Blotting, Surrogate Immunoglobulin Light Chains, Animals, Mice
Source:	Nature
ISSN:	0028-0836
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Volume:	350
Number:	6317
Page Range:	423-426
Date:	4 April 1991
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1038/350423a0
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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