Transcription of Immunoglobulin Genes

This chapter describes the transcription of Immunoglobulin genes (Ig). The chapter presents general characteristics of the Ig regulatory elements and discusses areas of current research. In addition, it discusses the striking example of serendipity in science; the research on Ig transcriptional regulation has provided unexpected insights in other aspect of immune biology. Each functional Ig V gene segment has a transcriptional initiation site, a TATA element and regulatory sequences comprising a promoter extending approximately 100 to 200 bp 5 of the leader coding sequences. The most important regulatory element in both light and heavy chain promoters is an octamer element, which is usually located within 100 bp of the transcription initiation site. Families of DNA-binding transcriptional regulators, binding to individual sites in the promoter and enhancer elements are identified, and their mechanisms of action defined in vitro. As described above, these studies have illuminated that transcription factors play important roles in the early development of hematopoietic and lymphoid cells, and in many other aspects of immune function.