Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Perfect use of imperfection

Nature volume 404, pages 709–710 (2000)Cite this article

When making proteins, cells opt for high speed at the cost of large amounts of waste. But the waste-recycling process has a happy side effect — it gives the immune system a head start in its battle against viral invaders.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A use for protein waste.

References

  1. Schubert, U. et al. Nature 404, 770–774 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Reits, E. A. J., Vos, J. C., Grommé, M. & Neefjes, J. Nature 404, 774–778 ( 2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Yewdell, J. W., Anton, L. C. & Bennink, J. R. J. Immunol. 157, 1823– 1826 (1996).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Boon, T. & Van Pel, A. Immunogenetics 29, 75–79 (1989).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Elliott, T., Bodmer, H. & Townsend, A. Eur. J. Immunol. 26, 1175– 1179 (1996).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Malarkannan, S., Horng, T., Shih, P. P., Schwab, S. & Shastri, N. Immunity 10, 681– 690 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Mayrand, S. M. & Green, W. R. Immunol. Today 19, 551–556 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Immunology, Institute for Cell Biology, Auf der Morgenstelle 15, Tübingen, D-72076, Germany

    Hansjörg Schild & Hans-Georg Rammensee

Authors
  1. Hansjörg Schild
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hans-Georg Rammensee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hansjörg Schild.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schild, H., Rammensee, HG. Perfect use of imperfection. Nature 404, 709–710 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35008165

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35008165

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing