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The evolutionary history of lymphoid organs

Nature Immunology volume 8, pages 131–135 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Lymphoid organs are important regulators of lymphocyte development and immune responses. During vertebrate evolution, primary lymphoid organs appeared earlier than secondary lymphoid organs. Among the sites of primary lymphopoiesis during evolution and ontogeny, those for B cell differentiation have differed considerably, although they often have had myelolymphatic characteristics. In contrast, only a single site for T cell differentiation has occurred, exclusively the thymus. Based on those observations and the known features of variable-diversity-joining gene recombination, we propose a model for the successive specification of different lymphocyte lineages during vertebrate evolution. According to our model, T cells were the first lymphocytes to acquire variable-diversity-joining–type receptors, and the thymus was the first lymphoid organ to evolve in vertebrates to deal with potentially autoreactive, somatically diversified T cell receptors.

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Figure 1: Evolution of lymphocyte specification.
Figure 2: Evolutionary origins of VDJ recombination.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the Max-Planck Society.

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  1. Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology, Freiburg, D-79279, Germany

    Thomas Boehm & Conrad C Bleul

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Boehm, T., Bleul, C. The evolutionary history of lymphoid organs. Nat Immunol 8, 131–135 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1435

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