This difference in binding ability to the two immunogens suggests
the R2 immunogen may have driven the earlier stages of affinity maturation of this lineage in llama 1, which resulted in clones that could also recognize 96ZM651.02 gp140 as the immune response progressed and the lineage developed breadth via mutations in the V gene region.
Interestingly, A14, B9 and B21 GL VHH (with the V gene reverted to germ line but mature DJ regions) were all able to bind
the R2 immunogen and neutralize the homologous virus (Fig. 7) but only B21 GL could bind the both immunogens and neutralize both viruses.
Not exact matches
Both GL B9 and A14 showed measurable binding to the
R2 gp140
immunogen by ELISA, which was weaker than that seen for the unreverted VHH (Fig. 2A, B), but no binding to 96ZM651.20 gp140 (Fig. 7A, B).
GL VHH binding to (A) clade B
immunogen R2 gp140 and (B) clade C
immunogen 96ZM9651.02 gp140 was assessed by ELISA as per the materials and methods.