LJI researchers reveal unexpected versatility of an ancient DNA repair factor

(La Jolla Institute for Immunology) New work from the lab of La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) investigator Anjana Rao, Ph.D., reveals a previously unrecognized activity for a highly conserved DNA repair factor. The researchers report that mouse lymphocytes engineered to lack that protein (known as HMCES and pronounced Hem'-sez) cannot recombine their DNA in a manner necessary to make new classes of antibodies, called Immunoglobulins G or A (IgG or IgA).