Scholars@Duke
Abani Naik

Abani Naik

Research Associate, Senior
Integrative Immunobiology
abani.naik@duke.edu
207 Research Drive, Jones Bldg, Room 316, Po 3010, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

RORγt up-regulates RAG gene expression in DP thymocytes to expand the Tcra repertoire.

Journal Article Sci Immunol · March 15, 2024 Recombination activating gene (RAG) expression increases as thymocytes transition from the CD4-CD8- double-negative (DN) to the CD4+CD8+ double-positive (DP) stage, but the physiological importance and mechanism of transcriptional up-regulation are unknown ... Full text Link to item Cite

A role of the CTCF binding site at enhancer Eα in the dynamic chromatin organization of the Tcra-Tcrd locus.

Journal Article Nucleic Acids Res · September 25, 2020 The regulation of T cell receptor Tcra gene rearrangement has been extensively studied. The enhancer Eα plays an essential role in Tcra rearrangement by establishing a recombination centre in the Jα array and a chromatin hub for interactions between Vα and ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Hierarchical assembly and disassembly of a transcriptionally active RAG locus in CD4+CD8+ thymocytes.

Journal Article J Exp Med · January 7, 2019 Expression of Rag1 and Rag2 is tightly regulated in developing T cells to mediate TCR gene assembly. Here we have investigated the molecular mechanisms governing the assembly and disassembly of a transcriptionally active RAG locus chromatin hub in CD4+CD8+ ... Full text Link to item Cite

An anti-silencer- and SATB1-dependent chromatin hub regulates Rag1 and Rag2 gene expression during thymocyte development.

Journal Article J Exp Med · May 4, 2015 Rag1 and Rag2 gene expression in CD4(+)CD8(+) double-positive (DP) thymocytes depends on the activity of a distant anti-silencer element (ASE) that counteracts the activity of an intergenic silencer. However, the mechanistic basis for ASE activity is unkno ... Full text Link to item Cite

Specification of Vδ and Vα usage by Tcra/Tcrd locus V gene segment promoters.

Journal Article J Immunol · January 15, 2015 The Tcra/Tcrd locus undergoes V-Dδ-Jδ rearrangement in CD4(-)CD8(-) thymocytes to form the TCRδ chain of the γδ TCR and V-Jα rearrangement in CD4(+)CD8(+) thymocytes to form the TCRα-chain of the αβ TCR. Most V segments in the locus participate in V-Jα rea ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cytosines, but not purines, determine recombination activating gene (RAG)-induced breaks on heteroduplex DNA structures: implications for genomic instability.

Journal Article The Journal of biological chemistry · March 2010 The sequence specificity of the recombination activating gene (RAG) complex during V(D)J recombination has been well studied. RAGs can also act as structure-specific nuclease; however, little is known about the mechanism of its action. Here, we show that i ... Full text Cite

P1 nuclease cleavage is dependent on length of the mismatches in DNA.

Journal Article DNA repair · August 2008 P1 nuclease is one of the most extensively used single-strand DNA specific nucleases in molecular biology. In modern biology, it is used as an enzymatic probe to detect altered DNA conformations. It is well documented that P1 cleaves single-stranded nuclei ... Full text Cite