IgG1 B cell receptor signaling is inhibited by CD22 and promotes the development of B cells whose survival is less dependent on Ig alpha/beta.
We describe a mouse strain in which B cell development relies either on the expression of membrane-bound immunoglobulin (Ig) gamma1 or mu heavy chains. Progenitor cells expressing gamma1 chains from the beginning generate a peripheral B cell compartment of normal size with all subsets, but a partial block is seen at the pro- to pre-B cell transition. Accordingly, gamma1-driven B cell development is disfavored in competition with developing B cells expressing a wild-type (WT) IgH locus. However, the mutant B cells display a long half-life and accumulate in the mature B cell compartment, and even though partial truncation of the Ig alpha cytoplasmic tail compromises their development, it does…