Extant jawless vertebrates, such as lampreys and hagfishes, express variable lymphocyte receptors (VLRs) that are different from adaptive immune receptors in mammals. Here, the authors show that, in addition to the well-described five VLRs, a sixth VLR is expressed in lamprey T-like cells and evolved at least 250 million years ago.
- Sabyasachi Das
- Francisco Fontenla-Iglesias
- Max D. Cooper
