Figure 1.

Reduction of activation-induced deaminase (AID) messenger RNA transcripts in AID-heterozygous MRL/lpr mice. Resting/naïve B cells were prepared from spleens of AID-wild-type (WT; n= 2) and heterozygous (Het; n= 3) MRL/lpr mice at 12 weeks of age as described in the text. After treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alone or plus interleukin-4 (IL-4) or transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) as indicated for 72 hr, cells were lysed and complementary DNA (cDNA) was prepared. One-tenth of the cDNA reaction and its dilutions at 1 : 5 and 1 : 25 were used for amplification of AID fragments by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The reverse transcription–PCR products were visualized in agarose gel and quantified with Image Quant software. Error bars represent the standard error of two experiments for each of the treatments.