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Science 19 January 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5810, p. 297
DOI: 10.1126/science.315.5810.297j
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B cells produce different classes of antibodies by combining the highly variable antigen-binding front-end with one of a selection of functional rear-ends through class switch recombination, in which somatic gene rearrangement brings together intronic switch region sequences that flank the constant region segments. After generation of double-strand breaks by the cytidine deaminase AID and subsequent end-joining, intervening DNA is deleted and the upstream variable sequence meets its selected constant-region partner. To look more closely at the role AID and the switch regions themselves play in this process, Zarrin et al. (p. 377, published online 14 December; see the Perspective by Chaudhuri and Jasin) replaced the switch sequences with endonuclease sites from yeast, which allows the production of independent double-strand breaks. Surprisingly, class-switch recombination still took place with a measurable frequency and was independent of AID.




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