Martin Corcoran, Ganesh Phad, Néstor Vázquez Bernat and Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam et al publish in Nature Communications
Martin M. Corcoran, Ganesh E. Phad, Néstor Vázquez Bernat and Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam have published in Nature Communications in an paper that increases our understanding of genetic variation.
The adaptive immune system has the capacity to produce antibodies with enormous numbers of binding specificities. Antibodies are generated through recombination of a fixed set of germline immunoglobulin segments, called V genes, with other germline immunoglobulin segments. The exact composition of germline V gene sequences in an individual has been difficult to determine due to the highly repetitive nature of the genomic sequences encoding these segments, thus limiting our understanding of humoral immune responses. To find a solution to this, the Karlsson Hedestam Group, in collaboration with SciLifeLab, developed a computational technique, IgDiscover, that enables rapid production of 'individualized V gene databases' following deep sequencing of expressed antibody repertoires. IgDiscover uncovers genetic diversity in the immunoglobulin loci at the individual level, enabling an improved understanding of protective and pathogenic B cell responses in a variety of settings and facilitating future personalized immunization strategies.
Publication
Martin M. Corcoran, Ganesh E. Phad, Néstor Vázquez Bernat, Christiane Stahl-Hennig, Noriyuki Sumida, Mats A.A. Persson, Marcel Martin, Gunilla B. Karlsson Hedestam
Nature Communications 7, Article number: 13642 (2016) doi:10.1038/ncomms13642