Phased fragility and stability of non-genetic B cell states in the germinal center accelerate the genetic evolution of antibodies (opens in new tab)

Xiang et al. present a mathematical model of Darwinian antibody affinity maturation—validated in mouse mutant immunization studies—to examine the impact of variable non-genetic cell states. They report optimal antibody maturation with some stochasticity during affinity selection but high non-genetic state heritability during the clonal burst phase.