Position-dependent inhibition of class-switch recombination by PGK-neor cassettes inserted into the immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region locus.

Abstract

The Ig heavy chain (IgH) constant region (CH) genes are organized from 5' to 3' in the order Cmicro, Cdelta, Cgamma3, Cgamma1, Cgamma2b, Cgamma2a, Cepsilon, and Calpha. Expression of CH genes downstream of Cdelta involves class-switch recombination (CSR), a process that is targeted by germ-line transcription (GT) of the corresponding CH gene. Previously, we demonstrated that insertion of a PGK-neor cassette at two sites downstream of Calpha inhibits, in cultured B cells, GT of and CSR to a subset of CH genes (including Cgamma3, Cgamma2a, Cgamma2b, and Cepsilon) that lie as far as 120 kb upstream. Here we show that insertion of the PGK-neor cassette in place of sequences in the Igamma2b locus inhibits GT of and CSR to the upstream Cgamma3 gene, but has no major effect on the downstream Cgamma2a and Cepsilon genes. Moreover, replacement of the Cepsilon exons with a PGK-neor cassette in the opposite transcriptional orientation also inhibits, in culture, GT of and CSR to the upstream Cgamma3, Cgamma2b, and Cgamma2a genes. As with the PGK-neor insertions 3' of Calpha studied previously, the Cgamma1 and Calpha genes were less affected by these mutations both in culture and in mice, whereas the Cgamma2b gene appeared less affected in vivo. Our findings support the existence of a long-range 3' IgH regulatory region required for GT of and CSR to multiple CH genes and suggest that PGK-neor cassette insertion into the locus short circuits the ability of this region to facilitate GT of dependent CH genes upstream of the insertion.