Although scarce after annual influenza vaccination, B cells producing antibodies capable of neutralizing multiple influenza strains are abundant in humans infected with pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza.

Generating a broadly protective influenza vaccine is critical to global health. Understanding how immune memory influences influenza immunity is central to this goal. We undertook an in-depth study of the B cell response to the pandemic 2009 H1N1 vaccine over consecutive years. Analysis of monoclonal Abs generated from vaccine-induced plasmablasts demonstrated that individuals with low preexisting serological titers to the vaccinating strain generated a broadly reactive, HA stalk-biased, response. Higher preexisting serum antibody levels correlated with a strain-specific HA head-dominated response. We demonstrate that this HA head immunodominance encompasses poor accessibility of the HA stalk epitopes. Further, we show polyreactivity of HA stalk-reactive antibodies that could cause counterselection of these cells. Thus, preexisting memory against HA head epitopes predominate, inhibiting a broadly protective response against the HA stalk upon revaccination with similar strains. Consideration of influenza exposure history is critical for new vaccine strategies designed to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies.

Splicing of precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) in yeast is executed by the spliceosome, which consists of five small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), NTC (nineteen complex), NTC-related proteins (NTR), and a number of associated enzymes and cofactors. Here, we report the three-dimensional structure of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe spliceosome at 3.6-angstrom resolution, revealed by means of single-particle cryogenic electron microscopy. This spliceosome contains U2 and U5 snRNPs, NTC, NTR, U6 small nuclear RNA, and an RNA intron lariat. The atomic model includes 10,574 amino acids from 37 proteins and four RNA molecules, with a combined molecular mass of approximately 1.3 megadaltons. Spp42 (Prp8 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae), the key protein component of the U5 snRNP, forms a central scaffold and anchors the catalytic center. Both the morphology and the placement of protein components appear to have evolved to facilitate the dynamic process of pre-mRNA splicing. Our near-atomic-resolution structure of a central spliceosome provides a molecular framework for mechanistic understanding of pre-mRNA splicing.