Maintenance of antibody to pathogen epitopes generated by segmental gene conversion is highly dynamic during long-term persistent infection.

ABSTRACT: Multiple bacterial and protozoal pathogens utilize gene conversion to generate rapid intrahost antigenic variation. Both large- and small-genome pathogens expand the size of the variant pool via a combinatorial process in which oligonucleotide segments from distinct donor loci are recombined in various combinations into expression sites. Although the potential combinatorial diversity generated by this segmental gene conversion mechanism is quite large, the functional variant pool depends on whether immune responses against the recombined segments are generated and maintained, regardless of their specific combinatorial context. This question was addressed by tracking the Anaplasma marginale variant population and corresponding segment-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody responses durin

SUBMITTER: Zhuang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2168278 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature