In B lymphocytes, class switch recombination (CSR) is an essential process that adapts immunoglobulin (Ig) subtypes to antigenresponse. Taking place within the Ig heavy chain (IgH) locus, CSR needs controlled transcription of targeted regions governed by the IgH 3'regulatory region (3'RR). This super-enhancer is composed of four core enhancers surrounded by inverted repeated sequences, forming a quasi-palindrome. In addition to transcription, nuclear organization appears to be an important level in CSR regulation. While it is now established that chromatin loop extrusion takes place within IgH locus to facilitate CSR by bringing the donor and acceptor switch regions closer together, the underlying mechanism that triggers CSR loop formation remains partially understood. Here, by combining DNA 3Dfluorescence in situhybridizationwith various high-throughput approaches, we deciphered critical functions for the 3'RR core enhancer element in nuclear addressing, accessibility and chromatin looping of the IgH locus. We conclude thatthe 3'RR core enhancers are necessary and sufficient to pre-organize the position and conformation of IgH loci in resting B-cell nuclei to enable the deletional recombination events required for productive successful CSR in activated B-cell nuclei.
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