Visualizing germinal center B cell dynamics at single cell transcriptome resolution
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ABSTRACT: During a germinal center (GC) response, B cells diversify their immunoglobulin (Ig) genes by somatic hyper-mutation (SHM) and undergo clonal expansion and positive selection thereby enabling the generation of higher affinity antibodies. We have analyzed the genomic states underlying GC B cell dynamics by single cell RNA-Seq. Profiling of antigen specific GC B cells during the peak of the response, revealed four distinctive genomic states characterized by antigen presentation, apoptotic, mitochondrial and mitotic gene expression modules. Intersection of genomic states and Ig heavy-chain (Igh) class-switch trajectory suggested that mitochondrial machinery is utilized to support class-switch recombination (CSR). Furthermore, by analyzing the transcriptomes of B cells with varying affinity BCR sequences that assembled from single-cell RNA-seq data through a novel algorithm, we show that high affinity GC B cells manifest enhanced mitotic and BCR signaling transduction, but compromised antigen processing and presentation gene expression modules. Thus, we are developing a comprehensive framework of the genomic states and molecular pathways underlying GC B cell dynamics.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE79096 | GEO | 2018/03/10
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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