Nongenetic origins of cell-to-cell variability in B lymphocyte proliferation.

ABSTRACT: Rapid antibody production in response to invading pathogens requires the dramatic expansion of pathogen-derived antigen-specific B lymphocyte populations. Whether B cell population dynamics are based on stochastic competition between competing cell fates, as in the development of competence by the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, or on deterministic cell fate decisions that execute a predictable program, as during the development of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, remains unclear. Here, we developed long-term live-cell microscopy of B cell population expansion and multiscale mechanistic computational modeling to characterize the role of molecular noise in determining phenotype heterogeneity. We show that the cell lineage trees underlying B cell population dynamics are mediated b

SUBMITTER: Mitchell S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5866559 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature