The invention of lymphocytes.
Curr Opin Immunol
; 23(2): 156-62, 2011 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21227671
ABSTRACT
Lamprey and hagfish are surviving representatives of the most ancient vertebrates. They possess adaptive immune systems based on a vast, somatically diversified repertoire of lymphocyte-bound antigen receptors. Despite these similarities to antibody and T cell receptors (TCR) of later vertebrates, the variable lymphocyte receptors (VLR) are not related to the immunoglobulin (Ig)-superfamily of genes; and instead of V(D)J recombination VLR are somatically assembled by a gene conversion process. However, recent studies have revealed two lamprey lymphocyte subsets so closely resembling B cells and T cells that separate lymphocyte lineages must have already existed in the ancestral vertebrate, before Ig/TCR emergence. VLR and Ig/TCR arose independently, but the convergent evolution they display actually reflects their selection in cells with specialized functions.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Lymphocytes
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Curr Opin Immunol
Journal subject:
ALERGIA E IMUNOLOGIA
Year:
2011
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States