These comprised 292 antibody sequences (mean, 18 sequences per repertoire; range, 8 41).
While HTS has enabled an unprecedented depth of coverage of immune repertoires (i.e., 10 10 sequencing reads per repertoire), there is still a vast undersampling of biological diversity, especially in human samples [ 9, 65].
However, the observed intra-individual strain diversity, with regard to levels of Lewis antigen expression and sizes of Lewis glycosylated O-antigen chains, suggests an advantage for altering these characteristics rather than the Lewis antigen repertoire per se in a bacterial population.
Although the number of potential TCRs has been estimated at 1015 different α/β combinations [1], the actual αβ TCR repertoire per individual is estimated to include 106 different β chains [2], each pairing with a limited number of α chains [3].
The haploid VSG arrays permit a larger VSG repertoire per diploid genome and the exclusion of the arrays from genetic exchange would favour VSG divergence in different strains.
In summary, using NGS of TCRβ, we showed that SLE patients displayed about a twofold reduction in T cell repertoire diversity per fixed PB volume when compared to HC.
In order to minimize exposure to the host immune system and at the same time maintain its adherence properties, expression of the protein is epigenetically regulated such that only one copy of the encoding var gene repertoire is active per parasite at a given time, while the remaining approximately 60 variants are transcriptionally silent.
Here, we investigated vocal distant neighbour recognition in a songbird with a large repertoire (average repertoire size per male = 340 syllables [8]) and a complex song, the skylark Alauda arvensis, in its natural environment.
PfEMP-1 proteins undergo antigenic variation by switching var gene expression of a repertoire of 60 genes per haploid genome.
TCR-Vβ gene sequencing was performed to assess both CD4 and CD8 repertoires per individual before and at two time points, 2 months and 12 months, after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a cohort of 24 patients.
While an adaptive role has been previously inferred for PARCEL-containing ORFs based on these large repertoires per se [ 19], we caution against this general notion by comparing Mesoplasma florum, a plant pathogen and the closest ancestral relative of the M. mycoides cluster having a complete genome sequence (Additional file 4B).
