Open AccessExpression of activation‐induced cytidine deaminase decreases throughout the life
Author(s) -
Radu D. L.,
Kodera T.,
Bona C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of cellular and molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.44
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1582-4934
pISSN - 1582-1838
DOI - 10.1111/j.1582-4934.2003.tb00212.x
Subject(s) - cytidine deaminase , activation induced (cytidine) deaminase , biology , somatic cell , gene , transcription (linguistics) , cytidine , somatic hypermutation , genetics , phenotype , mutation , enzyme , biochemistry , b cell , linguistics , philosophy , antibody
Activation‐induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is an RNA editing enzyme, which contributes to generation of new functional genes from a restricted number of genes of plant and animal genome. This enzyme was involved in the process of somatic mutation and class switching in vertebrate. Since the rate of somatic mutations is variable throughout ontogeny, we have studied the transcription of AID in 3 to 24 month‐old Balb/c mice. Our results demonstrate a significant decrease of the transcription of the AID gene with aging. The decreased AID activity is not related to variation of phenotypic and functional properties of B cells throughout the life. This observation can explain the low rate of somatic mutation in aged animals.