Figure 6.

Footprint shift enables bnAb development and viral clearance

(A) Ag population trajectories with (red) and without (black) shift in BCR binding footprint. Ag clearance only occurs if footprint shift is allowed.

(B) Evolved B cells are grouped based on binding footprint of their germline ancestors against the founder virus; color indicates the number of conserved dimensions in the optimal binding subspace. Data are collected at t=100 (no footprint shift) or when Ag population drops to 10% capacity (with footprint shift). B cells that initially target a fully conserved region (blue) only survive under footprint shift. (A) and (B) are based on the same set of simulations and data are plotted as mean ± SD.

(C and D) Typical trajectories of GC composition (fraction of three cell groups defined in panel B), when footprint is fixed (C) or adjustable (D). n_c=4, σ_A=1.