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Rejoining of DNA by the RAG1 and RAG2 Proteins

1998; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 280; Issue: 5361 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.280.5361.301

1095-9203

Meni Melek, Martin Gellert, Dik C. van Gent,

T-cell and B-cell Immunology

Assembly of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes from separate gene segments [V(D)J recombination] begins with DNA double-strand breakage by the RAG1 and RAG2 proteins, acting at a pair of recombination signal sequences (RSSs). Here, the RAG proteins are shown to reverse the cleavage reaction by joining an RSS to a broken coding sequence end. These "hybrid joints" have also been found in lymphoid cells, even when the normal pathway of DNA double-strand break repair is inactive, and can now be explained by this activity of the RAG proteins.