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Flexible chromatin loops in the VH gene region of the Igh locus facilitate the generation of a diverse antibody repertoire

ABSTRACT: The immunoglobulin heavy-chain (Igh) locus undergoes large-scale contraction in pro-B cells, which facilitates VH-DJH recombination by juxtaposing distal VH genes next to the DJH- rearranged gene segment in the proximal Igh domain. By high-resolution mapping of long-range interactions, we now demonstrate that an array of local interaction domains establishes the three- dimensional structure of the extended Igh locus in lymphoid progenitors and thymocytes. In pro- B cells, these local domains engage in long-range interactions across the entire Igh locus, which depend on the transcription factors Pax5, YY1 and CTCF. The large VH gene cluster thereby undergoes flexible long-range interactions with the more rigidly structured 3M-bM-^@M-^Y proximal domain, which ensures that all VH genes can participate with similar probability in VH-DJH recombination to generate a diverse antibody repertoire. Notably, these long-range interactions appear to be an intrinsic feature of the VH gene cluster, as they are still generated upon mutation of the EM-NM-< enhancer, IGCR1 insulator or 3M-bM-^@M-^Y regulatory region present in the 3M-bM-^@M-^Y proximal Igh domain. 4C sequencing from mutliple celltypes with multiple viewpoints; uneven number of replicates ChIP-Seq

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-43008 | BioStudies |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies

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Project description:Non-coding sense and antisense germline transcription within the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus precedes V(D)J recombination and has been proposed to be associated with Igh locus accessibility, although its precise role remains elusive. However, no global analysis of germline transcription throughout the Igh locus has been done. Therefore, we performed directional RNAseq, demonstrating the locations and extent of both sense and antisense transcription throughout the Igh locus. Surprisingly, the majority of antisense transcripts are localized around two PAIR elements in the distal IghV region. Importantly, long-distance loops measured by 3C are observed between these two active PAIR promoters and Eμ, the start site of Iμ germline transcription, in a lineage- and stage-specific manner, even though this antisense transcription is Eμ-independent. YY1-/- pro-B cells are greatly impaired in distal VH gene rearrangement and Igh locus compaction, and we demonstrate that YY1 deficiency greatly reduces antisense transcription and PAIR-Eμ interactions. ChIP-seq shows high level YY1 binding only at Eμ, but low levels near some antisense promoters. PAIR-Eμ interactions are not disrupted by DRB, which blocks transcription elongation without disrupting transcription factories once they are established, but the looping is reduced after heat shock treatment, which disrupts transcription factories. We propose that transcription-mediated interactions, most likely at transcription factories, initially compact the Igh locus, bringing distal VH genes close to the DJH rearrangement, which is adjacent to Eμ. Therefore, we hypothesize that one key role of non-coding germline transcription is to facilitate locus compaction, allowing distal VH genes to undergo efficient rearrangement. In order to determine the amount and location of sense and antisense non-coding RNA in the Igh locus, we prepared total RNA from CD19+ RAG1-/- pro-B cells. Samples were either pre-enriched in custom Agilent arrays, or directly sequenced. Data from one sample for each condition is included as reflected in the publication.

Project description:A diverse antibody repertoire is formed through the rearrangement of V, D, and J segments at the immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) loci. The C57BL/6 murine Igh locus has over 100 functional VH gene segments that can recombine to a rearranged DJH. While the non-random usage of VH genes is well documented, it is not clear what elements determine recombination frequency. To answer this question we conducted deep sequencing of 5M-bM-^@M-^Y-RACE products of the Igh repertoire in pro-B cells, amplified in an unbiased manner. ChIP-seq results for several histone modifications and RNA polymerase II binding, RNA-seq for sense and antisense non-coding germline transcripts, and proximity to CTCF and Rad21 sites were compared to the usage of individual V genes. Computational analyses assessed the relative importance of these various accessibility elements. These elements divide the Igh locus into four epigenetically and transcriptionally distinct domains, and our computational analyses reveal different regulatory mechanisms for each region. Proximal V genes are relatively devoid of active histone marks and non-coding RNA in general, but having a CTCF site near their RSS is critical, suggesting that position near the base of the chromatin loops is important for rearrangement. In contrast, distal V genes have high levels of histone marks and non-coding RNA, which may compensate for their poorer RSS and for being distant from CTCF sites. Thus, the Igh locus has evolved a complex system for the regulation of V(D)J rearrangement that is different for of each the four domains that comprise this locus. RNA was extracted from C57BL/6 RAG-/- pro-B cells using TrizolM-BM-. (Life Technologies Corp., Carlsbad CA) and genomic DNA was eliminated using the genomic DNA wipeout buffer in the QuantiTect Reverse transcription kit (QIAGEN). A final purification of the RNA was performed with the RNeasy kit from QIAGEN. For each sample, 100 ng of total RNA was used to make RNASeq libraries using the NuGEN Encore Complete DR kits following manufacturer's recommended protocols. Sequencing libraries were gel purified to ensure insert sizes were larger than 100 bp in length and sequenced on an Ilumina HiSeq2000 for 100 bases plus 7 bases for indexing.

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Flexible chromatin loops in the VH gene region of the Igh locus facilitate the generation of a diverse antibody repertoire

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