High-throughput antibody sequencing reveals genetic evidence of global regulation of the naïve and memory repertoires that extends across individuals

Genes Immun. 2012 Sep;13(6):469-73. doi: 10.1038/gene.2012.20. Epub 2012 May 24.

Abstract

Vast diversity in the antibody repertoire is a key component of the adaptive immune response. This diversity is generated centrally through the assembly of variable, diversity and joining gene segments, and peripherally by somatic hypermutation and class-switch recombination. The peripheral diversification process is thought to only occur in response to antigenic stimulus, producing antigen-selected memory B cells. Surprisingly, analyses of the variable, diversity and joining gene segments have revealed that the naïve and memory subsets are composed of similar proportions of these elements. Lacking, however, is a more detailed study, analyzing the repertoires of naïve and memory subsets at the level of the complete V(D)J recombinant. This report presents a thorough examination of V(D)J recombinants in the human peripheral blood repertoire, revealing surprisingly large repertoire differences between circulating B-cell subsets and providing genetic evidence for global control of repertoire diversity in naïve and memory circulating B-cell subsets.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antibody Diversity / genetics*
  • B-Lymphocyte Subsets / immunology
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / genetics
  • Immunoglobulin M / genetics
  • Immunologic Memory / genetics*
  • V(D)J Recombination

Substances

  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M