Skip to main content
Protein & Cell logoLink to Protein & Cell
. 2012 Aug 4;3(7):545–558. doi: 10.1007/s13238-012-2054-1

The growth of B cell receptor microcluster is a universal response of B cells encountering antigens with different motion features

Zhengpeng Wan 1, Wanli Liu 1,
PMCID: PMC4875388  PMID: 22773344

Abstract

B lymphocyte cell senses and acquires foreign antigens through clonal distributed B cell receptors (BCRs) expressed on the surface of plasma membrane. The presentation formats of antigens are quite diverse. Based on their Brownian diffusion mobility, there are three forms: free mobile soluble antigens, lateral mobile membrane bound antigens, and fixed immobile antigens. Here, using high resolution high speed live cell imaging approaches, we provide evidence that BCR microclusters are formed on the surface of B cells shortly after B cell’s encountering of antigens with each format of motion features. Through high speed live cell imaging, we determine that these BCR microclusters show dynamic growth feature and by doing so function as the basic platforms for B cells to acquire the antigens. We propose that the formation and dynamic growth of BCR microcluster is a universal mechanism for B cell to response to antigens with diverse motion features.

Electronic Supplementary Material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13238-012-2054-1 contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keywords: BCR microcluster, TIRFM, live cell imaging, fixed immobile antigen, lateral mobile antigen, free mobile antigen

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Video 1(AVI 1623 kb) (1.6MB, avi)
Video 2(AVI 2375 kb) (2.3MB, avi)
Video 3(AVI 840 kb) (839.5KB, avi)
Video 4(AVI 1979 kb) (1.9MB, avi)
Video 5(AVI 2264 kb) (2.2MB, avi)

Footnotes

Electronic Supplementary Material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13238-012-2054-1 contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

  1. Bachmann M. F., Rohrer U. H., Kundig T. M., Burki K., Hengartner H., Zinkernagel R. M. The influence of antigen organization on B cell responsiveness. Science. 1993;262:1448–1451. doi: 10.1126/science.8248784. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Batista F. D., Harwood N. E. The who, how and where of antigen presentation to B cells. Nat Rev Immunol. 2009;9:15–27. doi: 10.1038/nri2454. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Batista F.D., Iber D., Neuberger M.S. B cells acquire antigen from target cells after synapse formation. Nature. 2001;411:489–494. doi: 10.1038/35078099. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blery M., Tze L., Miosge L. A., Jun J. E., Goodnow C. C. Essential role of membrane cholesterol in accelerated BCR internalization and uncoupling from NF-kappa B in B cell clonal anergy. J Exp Med. 2006;203:1773–1783. doi: 10.1084/jem.20060552. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Carrasco Y. R., Batista F. D. B cells acquire particulate antigen in a macrophage-rich area at the boundary between the follicle and the subcapsular sinus of the lymph node. Immunity. 2007;27:160–171. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2007.06.007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Depoil D., Fleire S., Treanor B. L., Weber M., Harwood N. E., Marchbank K. L., Tybulewicz V. L., Batista F. D. CD19 is essential for B cell activation by promoting B cell receptor-antigen microcluster formation in response to membrane-bound ligand. Nat immunol. 2008;9:63–72. doi: 10.1038/ni1547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fleire S. J., Goldman J. P., Carrasco Y. R., Weber M., Bray D., Batista F. D. B cell ligand discrimination through a spreading and contraction response. Science. 2006;312:738–741. doi: 10.1126/science.1123940. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gupta N., DeFranco A.L. Visualizing lipid raft dynamics and early signaling events during antigen receptor-mediated B-lymphocyte activation. Mol Biol Cell. 2003;14:432–444. doi: 10.1091/mbc.02-05-0078. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Holtzer L., Meckel T., Schmidt T. Nanometric three-dimensional tracking of individual quantum dots in cells. Appl Phys Lett. 2007;90:053902–053904. doi: 10.1063/1.2437066. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  10. Junt T., Moseman E. A., Iannacone M., Massberg S., Lang P. A., Boes M., Fink K., Henrickson S. E., Shayakhmetov D. M., Di Paolo N. C., et al. Subcapsular sinus macrophages in lymph nodes clear lymph-borne viruses and present them to antiviral B cells. Nature. 2007;450:110–114. doi: 10.1038/nature06287. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kurosaki T., Shinohara H., Baba Y. B cell signaling and fate decision. Annu Rev Immunol. 2010;28:21–55. doi: 10.1146/annurev.immunol.021908.132541. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kusumi A., Nakada C., Ritchie K., Murase K., Suzuki K., Murakoshi H., Kasai R. S., Kondo J., Fujiwara T. Paradigm shift of the plasma membrane concept from the two-dimensional continuum fluid to the partitioned fluid: high-speed single-molecule tracking of membrane molecules. Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct. 2005;34:351–378. doi: 10.1146/annurev.biophys.34.040204.144637. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kusumi A., Shirai Y. M., Koyama-Honda I., Suzuki K. G., Fujiwara T. K. Hierarchical organization of the plasma membrane: investigations by single-molecule tracking vs. fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. FEBS Lett. 2010;584:1814–1823. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2010.02.047. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lin K.B.L., Freeman S.A., Zabetian S., Brugger H., Weber M., Lei V., Dang-Lawson M., Tse K. W. K., Santamaria R., Batista F. D., et al. The Rap GTPases regulate B cell morphology, immunesynapse formation, and signaling by particulate B cell receptor ligands. Immunity. 2008;28:75–87. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2007.11.019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Liu W., Meckel T., Tolar P., Sohn H. W., Pierce S. K. Antigen affinity discrimination is an intrinsic function of the B cell receptor. J Exp Med. 2010;207:1095–1111. doi: 10.1084/jem.20092123. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Liu W., Meckel T., Tolar P., Sohn H. W., Pierce S. K. Intrinsic properties of immunoglobulin IgG1 isotype-switched B cell receptors promote microclustering and the initiation of signaling. Immunity. 2010;32:778–789. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2010.06.006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Liu W., Sohn H. W., Tolar P., Pierce S. K. It’s all about change: the antigen-driven initiation of B-cell receptor signaling. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2010;2:a002295. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a002295. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Liu W., Won Sohn H., Tolar P., Meckel T., Pierce S. K. Antigen-induced oligomerization of the B cell receptor is an early target of FcgRIIB inhibition. J Immunol. 2010;184:1977–1989. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.0902334. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Phan T. G., Grigorova I., Okada T., Cyster J. G. Subcapsular encounter and complement-dependent transport of immune complexes by lymph node B cells. Nat Immunol. 2007;8:992–1000. doi: 10.1038/ni1494. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Phee H., Rodgers W., Coggeshall K. M. Visualization of negative signaling in B cells by quantitative confocal microscopy. Mol Cell Biol. 2001;21:8615–8625. doi: 10.1128/MCB.21.24.8615-8625.2001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Pierce S. K., Liu W. The tipping points in the initiation of B cell signalling: how small changes make big differences. Nat Rev Immunol. 2010;10:767–777. doi: 10.1038/nri2853. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Puffer E.B., Pontrello J. K., Hollenbeck J. J., Kink J. A., Kiessling L. L. Activating B cell signaling with defined multivalent ligands. ACS Chem Biol. 2007;2:252–262. doi: 10.1021/cb600489g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Qi H., Egen J. G., Huang A. Y., Germain R. N. Extrafollicular activation of lymph node B cells by antigen-bearing dendritic cells. Science. 2006;312:1672–1676. doi: 10.1126/science.1125703. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Reth M., Wienands J. Initiation and processing of signals from the B cell antigen receptor B. Annu Rev Immunol. 1997;15:453–479. doi: 10.1146/annurev.immunol.15.1.453. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Schamel W. W., Reth M. Monomeric and oligomeric complexes of the B cell antigen receptor. Immunity. 2000;13:5–14. doi: 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)00003-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Sohn H. W., Gu H., Pierce S. K. Cbl-b negatively regulates B cell antigen receptor signaling in mature B cells through ubiquitination of the tyrosine kinase Syk. J Exp Med. 2003;197:1511–1524. doi: 10.1084/jem.20021686. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Tolar P., Hanna J., Krueger P. D., Pierce S. K. The constant region of the membrane immunoglobulin mediates B cell-receptor clustering and signaling in response to membrane antigens. Immunity. 2009;30:44–55. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2008.11.007. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Tolar P., Sohn H. W., Liu W., Pierce S. K. The molecular assembly and organization of signaling active B cell receptor oligomers. Immunol Rev. 2009;232:34–41. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065X.2009.00833.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Tolar P., Sohn H. W., Pierce S. K. The initiation of antigen-induced B cell antigen receptor signaling viewed in living cells by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Nat immunol. 2005;6:1168–1176. doi: 10.1038/ni1262. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Treanor B., Batista F. D. Organisation and dynamics of antigen receptors: implications for lymphocyte signalling. Curr Opin Immunol. 2010;22:299–307. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2010.03.009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Treanor B., Depoil D., Gonzalez-Granja A., Barral P., Weber M., Dushek O., Bruckbauer A., Batista F.D. The membrane skeleton controls diffusion dynamics and signaling through the B cell receptor. Immunity. 2010;32:187–199. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2009.12.005. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Weber M., Treanor B., Depoil D., Shinohara H., Harwood N. E., Hikida M., Kurosaki T., Batista F. D. Phospholipase C-{gamma}2 and Vav cooperate within signaling microclusters to propagate B cell spreading in response to membrane-bound antigen. J Exp Med. 2008;205:853–868. doi: 10.1084/jem.20072619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Supplementary Materials

Video 1(AVI 1623 kb) (1.6MB, avi)
Video 2(AVI 2375 kb) (2.3MB, avi)
Video 3(AVI 840 kb) (839.5KB, avi)
Video 4(AVI 1979 kb) (1.9MB, avi)
Video 5(AVI 2264 kb) (2.2MB, avi)

Articles from Protein & Cell are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES