THE PRESENCE OF DIRECT REPEATS DOES NOT INFLUENCE CODING JOINT FORMATION DURING V(D)J RECOMBINATION

During the recombination process that assembles immunoglobulin and T-c ell receptor gene segments, the coding ends to be joined are extensive ly processed. Contradictory reports have been made in the past about t he existence of homology directed mechanisms in V(D)J recombination. I n this study we analyse coding end processing and the influence of the presence of homology stretches on coding joint formation using artifi cial substrates in which short sequence changes creating direct repeat s have been introduced. These changes were monitored 3 bp away from th e termini in order to avoid any differences due to the initiation step s of V(D)J recombination, Our results show that the sequence of the co ding ends influences joint formation, but no evidence was found for a mechanistic bias due to the presence of direct repeats.