Infection and Inflammation Seminar: Valentyn Oksenych, PhD, group leader at NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

Abstract

Development of B and T lymphocytes depends on the DNA breaks and repair events known as V(D)J recombination. There are two molecular pathways involved in the DNA repair during the lymphocyte development, non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and DNA damage response (DDR). Recently, new accessory NHEJ factors PAXX and Mri were reported. Deficiency for PAXX or Mri, however, had no obvious effect on the lymphocyte development. Applying genetic models, we found that PAXX and Mri are functionally redundant with another NHEJ factor, XLF. Moreover, combined deficiency for XLF/PAXX and XLF/Mri results in dramatic, although distinct, phenotypes. In addition, we found that multiple factors from the DDR pathway are required for specific stages of B cell development.