Baltcheva, IrinaVeel, EllenVolman, ThomasKoning, DanBrouwer, AnjaLe Boudec, Jean-YvesTesselaar, KikiBoer, DeRob, J.Borghans, José A. M.2012-09-182012-09-182012-09-18201210.1016/j.bpj.2012.07.017https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/85482WOS:000308510200017The efficiency of the adaptive immune system is dependent on the diversity of T- and B-cell receptors, which is created by random rearrangement of receptor gene segments. AmpliCot is an experimental technique that allows the measurement of the diversity of the T- and B-cell repertoire. This procedure has the advantage over other cloning and sequencing techniques of being time- and expense-effective. In previous studies, receptor diversity, measured with AmpliCot, has been inferred assuming a second-order kinetics model. The latter implies that the relation between diversity and concentration × time (Cot) values is linear. We show that a more detailed model, involving heteroduplex and transient-duplex formation, leads to significantly better fits of experimental data and to nonlinear diversity-Cot relations. We propose an alternative fitting procedure, which is straightforward to apply and which gives an improved description of the relationship between Cot values and diversity.Immune systemregulatory T cellsAmplicottext::journal::journal article::research article