PUBLICATION

Processing of fish Ig heavy chain transcripts: Diverse splicing patterns and unusual nonsense mediated decay

Authors
Quiniou, S.M., Wilson, M., and Boudinot, P.
ID
ZDB-PUB-101222-45
Date
2011
Source
Developmental and comparative immunology   35(9): 949-58 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
Fish, Immunoglobulin, splicing, NMD, IgM, IgD, IgT
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence/genetics
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Fishes
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains/genetics
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains/metabolism*
  • RNA Splicing*/immunology
  • RNA, Messenger*/genetics
  • RNA, Messenger*/metabolism
  • Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear/genetics
PubMed
21168434 Full text @ Dev. Comp. Immunol.
Abstract
While the diversification of the antigen-binding sites is realized by genomic VDJ rearrangements during B cell differentiation, different forms of immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy (H) chains can be produced through multiple splicing pathways. In most vertebrates, the secreted (S) and membrane (Mb) forms of IgM chain are created by alternative splicing through usage of a cryptic splice site in Cμ4 allowing the junction to the TM exon. The processing pattern for Igμ is different in teleosts, which generally use the Cμ3 donor site instead. In ancient fish lineages, multiple unusual splicing patterns were found for Ig H chain, involving donor sites that do not always follow the classical consensus. The production of IgD versus IgM H chains seems to be generally realized by alternative splicing in all vertebrates, but typical teleost IgD H chains are chimeric and contains a Cμ1 domain. Together, these observations raise questions on how different fish regulate RNA splicing and if their splicing machinery is especially complex. A preliminary scan of the zebrafish and stickleback genomes provides evidence that gene orthologs to the mammalian main splice factors are highly conserved as single copy genes, while the snRNPs U repertoire may be different and may explain other particular features of RNA processing in fish.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping