Overcoming obstacles in structural elucidation of B cell antigen receptor assembly and lateral interaction

Abstract Development of effective adaptive immunity following infection and vaccination requires recognition of antigens and secretion of antibodies by B cells. T and B cells are the two major types of lymphocytes in the immune system. T cells can sense MHC-bound antigens by the T cell receptors (TCRs) and B cells can recognize free, unprocessed antigens by the B cell receptors (BCRs). Despite the critical importance of BCRs, how BCRs are assembled and regulated remain unclear. In this application, we propose to overcome certain technical obstacles in our pursuit of BCR assembly and regulation by engineering appropriate cell lines and using the native membrane environment for complex formation.