Biased distribution of recombination sites within S regions upon immunoglobulin class switch recombination induced by transforming growth factor beta and lipopolysaccharide.

We have characterized extrachromosomal circular DNAs from adult mouse spleen cells that were induced to switch to immunoglobulin A (IgA) with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), and identified breakpoints of S mu/S gamma 3, S mu/S gamma 2, S mu/S alpha, S gamma 3/S alpha, and S gamma 2/S alpha recombinants. The S mu recombination donor sites clustered in the 3' half of the S mu region, while the S alpha recombination acceptor sites clustered in the 5' half of the S alpha region. In addition, donor and acceptor sites of S gamma regions also clustered in the 3' and 5' parts, respectively. These site preferences are in sharp contrast to the dispersed distribution of S mu/S gamma 1 breakpoints within both S mu and S gamma 1 regions upon IgG1 switch induced by LPS and interleukin 4. Our results support the hypotheses that TGF-beta increases the frequency of switch recombination events to IgA and that the switch recombination to IgA often proceeds by successive recombination of S mu/S gamma and S gamma/S alpha.