The IgH Eµ-MAR regions promote UNG-dependent error-prone repair to optimize somatic hypermutation

Intoduction

Two scaffold/matrix attachment regions (5'- and 3'-MARs_Eµ ) flank the intronic core enhancer (cEµ) within the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (IgH). Besides their conservation in mice and humans, the physiological role of MARs_Eµ is still unclear and their involvement in somatic hypermutation (SHM) has never been deeply evaluated.

Methods

Our study analyzed SHM and its transcriptional control in a mouse model devoid of MARs_Eµ , further combined to relevant models deficient for base excision repair and mismatch repair.

Results

We observed an inverted substitution pattern in of MARs_Eµ -deficient animals: SHM being decreased upstream from cEµ and increased downstream of it. Strikingly, the SHM defect induced by MARs_Eµ -deletion was accompanied by an increase of sense transcription of the IgH V region, excluding a direct transcription-coupled effect. Interestingly, by breeding to DNA repair-deficient backgrounds, we showed that the SHM defect, observed upstream from cEµ in this model, was not due to a decrease in AID deamination but rather the consequence of a defect in base excision repair-associated unfaithful repair process.

Discussion

Our study pointed out an unexpected "fence" function of MARs_Eµ regions in limiting the error-prone repair machinery to the variable region of Ig gene loci.

Ig Enhancers Increase RNA Polymerase II Stalling at Somatic Hypermutation Target Sequences

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) drives the genetic diversity of Ig genes in activated B cells and supports the generation of Abs with increased affinity for Ag. SHM is targeted to Ig genes by their enhancers (diversification activators [DIVACs]), but how the enhancers mediate this activity is unknown. We show using chicken DT40 B cells that highly active DIVACs increase the phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and Pol II occupancy in the mutating gene with little or no accompanying increase in elongation-competent Pol II or production of full-length transcripts, indicating accumulation of stalled Pol II. DIVAC has similar effect also in human Ramos Burkitt lymphoma cells. The DIVAC-induced stalling is weakly associated with an increase in the detection of ssDNA bubbles in the mutating target gene. We did not find evidence for antisense transcription, or that DIVAC functions by altering levels of H3K27ac or the histone variant H3.3 in the mutating gene. These findings argue for a connection between Pol II stalling and cis-acting targeting elements in the context of SHM and thus define a mechanistic basis for locus-specific targeting of SHM in the genome. Our results suggest that DIVAC elements render the target gene a suitable platform for AID-mediated mutation without a requirement for increasing transcriptional output.

Fam72a enforces error-prone DNA repair during antibody diversification

Efficient humoral responses rely on DNA damage, mutagenesis and error-prone DNA repair. Diversification of B cell receptors through somatic hypermutation and class-switch recombination are initiated by cytidine deamination in DNA mediated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID)1 and by the subsequent excision of the resulting uracils by uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG) and by mismatch repair proteins1-3. Although uracils arising in DNA are accurately repaired1-4, how these pathways are co-opted to generate mutations and double-strand DNA breaks in the context of somatic hypermutation and class-switch recombination is unknown1-3. Here we performed a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screen for genes involved in class-switch recombination and identified FAM72A, a protein that interacts with the nuclear isoform of UNG (UNG2)5 and is overexpressed in several cancers5. We show that the FAM72A-UNG2 interaction controls the levels of UNG2 and that class-switch recombination is defective in Fam72a-/- B cells due to the upregulation of UNG2. Moreover, we show that somatic hypermutation is reduced in Fam72a-/- B cells and that its pattern is skewed upon upregulation of UNG2. Our results are consistent with a model in which FAM72A interacts with UNG2 to control its physiological level by triggering its degradation, regulating the level of uracil excision and thus the balance between error-prone and error-free DNA repair. Our findings have potential implications for tumorigenesis, as reduced levels of UNG2 mediated by overexpression of Fam72a would shift the balance towards mutagenic DNA repair, rendering cells more prone to acquire mutations.

Panorama of stepwise involvement of the IgH 3' regulatory region in murine B cells

Among the multiple events leading to immunoglobulin (Ig) expression in B cells, stepwise activation of the Ig heavy chain locus (IgH) is of critical importance. Transcription regulation of the complex IgH locus has always been an interesting viewpoint to unravel the multiple and complex events required for IgH expression. First, regulatory germline transcripts (GLT) assist DNA remodeling events such as VDJ recombination, class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). Second, productive spliced transcripts restrict heavy chain protein expression associated either with the surface receptor of developing B cells or secreted in large amounts in plasma cells. One main transcriptional regulator for IgH lies at its 3' extremity and includes both a set of enhancers grouped in a large 3' regulatory region (3'RR) and a cluster of 3'CTCF-binding elements (3'CBEs). In this focused review, we will preferentially refer to evidence reported for the murine endogenous IgH locus, whether it is wt or carries deletions or insertions within the IgH 3' boundary and associated regulatory region.

IgH 3' regulatory region increases ectopic class switch recombination

DNA lesions inflicted by activation-induced deaminase (AID) instrumentally initiate the processes reshaping immunoglobulin genes in mature B-cells, from local somatic hypermutation (SHM) to junctions of distant breaks during class switch recombination (CSR). It remains incompletely understood how these divergent outcomes of AID attacks are differentially and temporally focused, with CSR strictly occurring in the Ig heavy chain (IgH) locus while SHM concentrates on rearranged V(D)J regions in the IgH and Ig light chain loci. In the IgH locus, disruption of either the 3’Regulatory Region (3’RR) super-enhancer or of switch (S) regions preceding constant genes, profoundly affects CSR. Reciprocally, we now examined if these elements are sufficient to induce CSR in a synthetic locus based on the Igκ locus backbone. Addition of a surrogate “core 3’RR” (c3’RR) and of a pair of transcribed and spliced Switch regions, together with a reporter system for “κ-CSR” yielded a switchable Igκ locus. While the c3’RR stimulated SHM at S regions, it also lowered the local SHM threshold necessary for switch recombination to occur. The 3’RR thus both helps recruit AID to initiate DNA lesions, but then also promotes their resolution through long-distance synapses and recombination following double-strand breaks.

Class switching allows B lymphocytes to replace expression of immunoglobin M with that of immunoglobulins G, A or E. The genetic support of class switching, is a unique and large deletion uniquely occuring within the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) locus. This recombination is triggered after DNA lesions inflicted by the activation-induced deaminase (AID) enzyme. In immunoglobulin light chain loci, AID only stimulates somatic hypermutation. In such a non-IgH locus, we now show that the IgH 3’ superenhancer can promote junctions between distant DNA breaks and ectopic class switch recombination. This study identifies the minimal elements necessary for class-switch recombination to occur instead of hypermutation in a locus targeted by AID, i.e. transcribed (and spliced) target sites for AID in so-called S regions, and the 3’IgH superenhancer which both helps recruit AID for DNA lesions, and helps repair these lesions through distant gene synapsis and recombination.