Title |
A Population Dynamics Model for Clonal Diversity in a Germinal Center
|
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Published in |
Frontiers in Microbiology, September 2017
|
DOI | 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01693 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Assaf Amitai, Luka Mesin, Gabriel D. Victora, Mehran Kardar, Arup K. Chakraborty |
Abstract |
Germinal centers (GCs) are micro-domains where B cells mature to develop high affinity antibodies. Inside a GC, B cells compete for antigen and T cell help, and the successful ones continue to evolve. New experimental results suggest that, under identical conditions, a wide spectrum of clonal diversity is observed in different GCs, and high affinity B cells are not always the ones selected. We use a birth, death and mutation model to study clonal competition in a GC over time. We find that, like all evolutionary processes, diversity loss is inherently stochastic. We study two selection mechanisms, birth-limited and death limited selection. While death limited selection maintains diversity and allows for slow clonal homogenization as affinity increases, birth limited selection results in more rapid takeover of successful clones. Finally, we qualitatively compare our model to experimental observations of clonal selection in mice. |
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Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 2 | 29% |
Iraq | 1 | 14% |
Switzerland | 1 | 14% |
Unknown | 3 | 43% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Members of the public | 5 | 71% |
Scientists | 2 | 29% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Unknown | 75 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
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Student > Ph. D. Student | 28 | 37% |
Researcher | 13 | 17% |
Student > Master | 9 | 12% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 4% |
Student > Bachelor | 2 | 3% |
Other | 5 | 7% |
Unknown | 15 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Immunology and Microbiology | 17 | 23% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 10 | 13% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 10 | 13% |
Physics and Astronomy | 9 | 12% |
Chemical Engineering | 3 | 4% |
Other | 6 | 8% |
Unknown | 20 | 27% |