The contested role of uracil DNA glycosylase in immunoglobulin gene diversification

Class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM) of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes are initiated by the activation-induced cytosine deaminase AID. The resulting uracils in Ig genes were believed to be removed by the uracil glycosylase (UNG) and the resulting abasic sites treated in an error-prone fashion, creating breaks in the Ig switch regions and mutations in the variable regions. A recent report suggests that UNG does not act as a glycosylase in CSR and SHM but rather has unknown activity subsequent to DNA breaks that were created by other mechanisms.