期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2020
卷号:117
期号:36
页码:22341-22350
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2005102117
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Conformational diversity and self-cross-reactivity of antigens have been correlated with evasion from neutralizing antibody responses. We utilized single cell B cell sequencing, biolayer interferometry and X-ray crystallography to trace mutation selection pathways where the antibody response must resolve cross-reactivity between foreign and self-proteins bearing near-identical contact surfaces, but differing in conformational flexibility. Recurring antibody mutation trajectories mediate long-range rearrangements of framework (FW) and complementarity determining regions (CDRs) that increase binding site conformational diversity. These antibody mutations decrease affinity for self-antigen 19-fold and increase foreign affinity 67-fold, to yield a more than 1,250-fold increase in binding discrimination. These results demonstrate how conformational diversity in antigen and antibody does not act as a barrier, as previously suggested, but rather facilitates high affinity and high discrimination between foreign and self.