The level of expression of μ heavy chain modifies the composition of peripheral B cell subpopulations

The B cell receptor (BCR) has a decisive role in transducing signals required for the development of B cells and their survival in the periphery. However, the processes that initiate these signals remain unclear and concepts of constitutive and ligand-dependent signaling have been proposed. Using a μ-transgenic mouse model, we have analyzed the impact of high surface IgM expression on the composition of the splenic B cell population. κ-deficient mice homozygous for the H3-μ transgene have B cells with a higher BCR surface density than H3 heterozygous mice. This higher BCR expression is associated with an increase in the percentage and the total number of splenic B cells. In addition, an important proportion of CD23–CD21+ marginal zone (MZ) B cells can be observed in H3 homozygous mice. However, these modifications operate in the absence of impairment of the positive selection process of the H3-μ/λ1 combination over the H3-μ/λ2 + 3 ones. These results suggest that (i) a constitutive BCR signaling directly correlated with BCR surface density is responsible for the efficient B cell colonization of the periphery with an accumulation of B cells in the MZ and (ii) a ligand-dependent BCR signal is responsible for the clonotype composition of the mature B cell repertoire.