Cooperative transcriptional repression by BCL6 and BACH2 in germinal center B-cell differentiation.

ABSTRACT: The transcriptional repressors BCL6 and BACH2 are crucial regulators of germinal center (GC) B-cell fate, and are known to interact and repress transcription of PRDM1, a key driver of plasma cell differentiation. How these factors cooperate is not fully understood. Herein, we show that GC formation is only minimally impaired in Bcl6(+/-) or Bach2(+/-) mice, although double heterozygous Bcl6(+/-)Bach2(+/-) mice exhibit profound reduction in GC formation. Splenic B cells from Bcl6(+/-) Bach2(+/-) mice display accelerated plasmacytic differentiation and high expression of key plasma cell genes such as Prdm1, Xbp1, and CD138. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing revealed that in B cells, BACH2 is mostly bound to genes together with its heterodimer partner MAFK. The BACH2-MAFK complex binds

SUBMITTER: Huang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3924924 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature