How does your body produce millions of antibodies from one genome? New research reveals how two closely-related proteins help immune cells fold DNA, connecting distant genetic pieces to create diverse antibodies that help fend off disease.
In a new Nature Communications paper, a Michigan State University team discovered that the chromosome-organizing proteins STAG1 and STAG2 play distinct roles during antibody-gene assembly. STAG2 acts like a molecular gatekeeper, preventing DNA from forming oversized loops too soon, while STAG1 promotes long-range DNA interactions that are needed to assemble antibody genes.
Understanding how different antibodies are formed could eventually help scientists better understand why some immune cells develop abnormally, and how diseases like leukemia and lymphoma arise.