Signatures of murine B-cell development implicate Yy1 as a regulator of the germinal center-specific program. Mus musculus

Heirarchical development of B-cells involves the induction and supression of large sets of genes that provide the basis for differentiation and, ultimately, antibody production. We used microarrays to define comprehensive differentiation state-specific transcriptional signatures in order to gain insight into B-cell biology. In addition, we compared profiles of normal B-cells to those of murine lymphoma models that are putatively aligned with different states. Overall design: B-cells of different differentiation states were purified from the bone marrow and spleen of mice use flow cytometry with antibodies specific for pre-defined markers of each differentiation state. Purified populations were then profiled using Affymetrix Mouse 430A2 gene expression microarrays. Tumors from Bcl6-trangenic mice, Bcl6/Myc dual-transgenic mice and p53/Lig4 double knock-out mice were also profiled using these microarrays in order to assess the similarities/differences between normal and malignant B-cells.