Med1 facilitates transcriptional activation and dynamic long-range contacts at the IgH locus during class switch recombination.

Immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) is initiated by the transcription-coupled recruitment of activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID) to immunoglobulin switch (S) regions. During CSR, the IgH locus undergoes dynamic three-dimensional structural changes in which promoters, enhancers and S regions are brought to close proximity. Nevertheless, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Here we conditionally inactivated in B cells the Med1 subunit of mediator, a complex implicated in transcription initiation and long-range enhancer/promoter loop formation. We find that Med1-deficiency results in defective CSR, reduced acceptor switch region transcription and that this correlates with reduced long-range interactions between the acceptor switch regions and the Em enhancer, as determined by 4C-Seq. Our results implicate the mediator complex in the mechanism of CSR and are consistent with a model in which Med1 facilitates the transcriptional activation of switch regions and their long-range contacts with the IgH locus enhancers during CSR. 4C-seq data in resting and activated WT and Med1 mutant B cells. 4C bait was designed in the Eu enhancer of the Igh locus on chromosome 12. Primer sequences: 5’ TCTGTCCTAAAGGCTCTGAGA 3’ and 5’ GAACACAGAAGTATGTGTATGGA 3’.