Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Takaba H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3634110 | biostudies-literature | 2013
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Takaba Hiroyuki H Imai Takeshi T Miki Shoji S Morishita Yasuyuki Y Miyashita Akihiro A Ishikawa Naoko N Nishizumi Hirofumi H Sakano Hitoshi H
Scientific reports 20130101
All vertebrates, from jawless fish to mammals, possess adaptive immune systems that can detect and inactivate non-self-antigens through a vast repertoire of antigen receptors. Unlike jawed vertebrates, the hagfish utilizes variable lymphocyte receptors (VLRs) that are unrelated to immunoglobulin molecules but are diversified by copy-choice gene conversion mechanism. Here, we report that hagfish VLRs react with allogenic leukocyte antigens but not with self-antigens. We found that a highly polymo ...[more]