2005/12/22 by Matthew N. Alder, Igor B. Rogozin, Lakshminarayan M. Iyer +3 · 4 citations
Immunology and Microbiology · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Aquaculture disease management and microbiota #Immune Response and Inflammation #Zebrafish Biomedical Research Applications
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1119420
openalex publication_date 2005/12/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Instead of the immunoglobulin-type antigen receptors of jawed vertebrates, jawless fish have variable lymphocyte receptors (VLRs), which consist of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) modules. Somatic diversification of the VLR gene is shown here to occur through a multistep assembly of LRR modules randomly selected from a large bank of flanking cassettes. The predicted concave surface of the VLR is lined with hypervariable positively selected residues, and computational analysis suggests a repertoire of about 10(14) unique receptors. Lamprey immunized with anthrax spores responded with the production of soluble antigen-specific VLRs. These findings reveal that two strikingly different modes of antigen recognition through rearranged lymphocyte receptors have evolved in the jawless and jawed vertebrates.