Comparative Expression of Adult and Fetal V Gene Repertoires
作者:
TealeJudy M.,
MedinaCarmen A.,
期刊:
International Reviews of Immunology
(Taylor Available online 1992)
卷期:
Volume 8,
issue 2-3
页码: 95-111
ISSN:0883-0185
年代: 1992
DOI:10.3109/08830189209055566
出版商: Taylor&Francis
关键词: B lymphocytes;immune repertoire;diversity;ontogeny;variable region genes
数据来源: Taylor
摘要:
A hallmark of the immune system is the extraordinary diversity associated with antibodies. This is made possible by a series of genetic rearrangements involving variable region gene segments. Considerable detail is known about these genetic mechanisms except for the enzymatic machinery involved. An important question in studies of the generation of diversity is whether V genes are selected for rearrangement mainly in a random manner or selected by particular developmental rules. Past studies have indicated that the acquisition of fetal and neonatal specificity repertoires is a nonrandom process. In this report, we review our studies that directly compare the adult and fetal/neonatal V gene repertoires. The evidence suggests that the adult repertoire is more diverse with indications of a random use of VHgene families. However, whether V genes are indeed randomly used in the adult remains to be clarified at the VHgene member level. The fetal repertoire, on the other hand, appears nonrandom in V gene usage. In addition, the fetal repertoire is mostly germline encoded with little evidence of junctional diversity. Taken together, the results indicate different rules for generation of the adult and fetal repertoires, findings most likely explain by distinct B cell subsets and B cell progenitors at early stages in ontogeny.
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