Emergence of a new gene from an intergenic region.

It is generally assumed that new genes would arise by gene duplication mechanisms, because the signals for regulation and transcript processing would be unlikely to evolve in parallel with a new gene function. We have identified here a transcript in the house mouse (Mus musculus) that has arisen within the past 2.5-3.5 million years in a large intergenic region. The region is present in many mammals, including humans, allowing us to exclude the involvement of gene duplication, transposable elements, or other genome rearrangements, which are typically found for other cases of newly evolved genes. The gene has three exons, shows alternative splicing, and is specifically expressed in postmeiotic cells of the testis. The transcript is restricted to species within the genus Mus and its emergence correlates with indel mutations in the 5' regulatory region of the transcript. A recent selective sweep is associated with the transcript region in M. m. musculus populations. A knockout in the laboratory strain BL6 results in reduced sperm motility and reduced testis weight. Our results show that cryptic signals for transcript regulation and processing exist in intergenic regions and can become the basis for the evolution of a new functional gene.

Tolerance without clonal expansion: self-antigen-expressing B cells program self-reactive T cells for future deletion.

B cells have been shown in various animal models to induce immunological tolerance leading to reduced immune responses and protection from autoimmunity. We show that interaction of B cells with naive T cells results in T cell triggering accompanied by the expression of negative costimulatory molecules such as PD-1, CTLA-4, B and T lymphocyte attenuator, and CD5. Following interaction with B cells, T cells were not induced to proliferate, in a process that was dependent on their expression of PD-1 and CTLA-4, but not CD5. In contrast, the T cells became sensitive to Ag-induced cell death. Our results demonstrate that B cells participate in the homeostasis of the immune system by ablation of conventional self-reactive T cells.

A Cre-inducible diphtheria toxin receptor mediates cell lineage ablation after toxin administration.

A new system for lineage ablation is based on transgenic expression of a diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) in mouse cells and application of diphtheria toxin (DT). To streamline this approach, we generated Cre-inducible DTR transgenic mice (iDTR) in which Cre-mediated excision of a STOP cassette renders cells sensitive to DT. We tested the iDTR strain by crossing to the T cell- and B cell-specific CD4-Cre and CD19-Cre strains, respectively, and observed efficient ablation of T and B cells after exposure to DT. In MOGi-Cre/iDTR double transgenic mice expressing Cre recombinase in oligodendrocytes, we observed myelin loss after intraperitoneal DT injections. Thus, DT crosses the blood-brain barrier and promotes cell ablation in the central nervous system. Notably, we show that the developing DT-specific antibody response is weak and not neutralizing, and thus does not impede the efficacy of DT. Our results validate the use of iDTR mice as a tool for cell ablation in vivo.