title: The chicken B cell compartment.
abstract: A very unusual molecular mechanism is involved in generating the preimmune repertoire in the chicken bursa of Fabricius. A unique rearranged V gene is diversified through a program of segmental gene conversion with a pool of noncoding pseudogenes being used as donors. A specifically committed progenitor that originates in the embryonic bursa is responsible for long-term maintenance of the B cell population. Both these properties and the characteristics of the peripheral B cell compartment are discussed in terms of the evolution of the T and B immune systems.
authors.affiliation: Institut Jacques Monod, CNRS, Université Paris, France.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Weill
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Reynaud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000916:Antibody Diversity; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002060:Bursa of Fabricius / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology*; D002645:Chickens / Q000276:immunology*; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D007136:Immunoglobulins