Comparison of methods for phylogenetic B-cell lineage inference using time-resolved antibody repertoire simulations (AbSim)

Abstract

Motivation: The evolution of antibody repertoires represents a hallmark feature of adaptive B-cell immunity. Recent advancements in high-throughput sequencing have dramatically increased the resolution to which we can measure the molecular diversity of antibody repertoires, thereby offering for the first time the possibility to capture the antigen-driven evolution of B cells. However, there does not exist a repertoire simulation framework yet that enables the comparison of com monly utilized phylogenetic methods with regard to their accuracy in inferring antibody evolution.