Fig. 3: B cell expansion and infection is increased in p53-deficient mice.

a–d Quantification of total splenocytes, B cells, GC B cells, and plasmablasts 16 days after mock infection or infection of p53^+/+ or p53^-/- mice with 10⁴ PFU of H2B-YFP MHV68. Flow cytometry was performed to identify specific B cell populations. B cells were gated as CD19⁺/B220⁺ in (b) GC cells as GL7⁺/CD38^lo sub-population of CD19⁺/B220⁺ B cells in (c) and plasmablasts as CD138⁺/B220^lo in (d). Gating strategies are shown in Supplementary Fig. 9. Other lymphocyte populations were also quantified and were equivalent in p53^-/- and p53^+/+ spleens (Supplementary Fig. 6). e–h Quantification of infected (YFP⁺ ) total splenocytes, B cells, GC B cells, and plasmablasts as identified in (a–d) on day 16 after infection. a–h Data represent means +/− SEM for 2-3 independent infections with a minimum of 3 mice per group. Each dot represents an individual mouse. Mann-Whitney unpaired two-sided t test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, ***p < 0.0005, ****p < 0.0001.