Genome reconfiguration prior to mitosis shapes the generation of adaptive immunity

Abstract

Abstract During cellular differentiation chromosome conformation is altered to support the lineage-specific transcriptional programs required for cell identity. When these changes occur in relation to cell cycle, division and time is unclear. Here we followed B lymphocytes as they differentiated from a naïve, quiescent state into antibody secreting plasma cells. Unexpectedly, we found that gene-regulatory chromosome reorganization occurred prior to the first division, in late G 1 phase and that this configuration is maintained as the cells rapidly cycle during clonal expansion. A second wave of architectural changes also occurred later as cells differentiated into plasma cells and this was a..