Human Secretory IgM Emerges from Plasma Cells Clonally Related to Gut Memory B Cells and Targets Highly Diverse Commensals.

Secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) enhances host-microbiota symbiosis, whereas SIgM remains poorly understood. We found that gut IgM plasma cells (PCs) were more abundant in humans than mice and clonally related to a large repertoire of memory IgM B cells disseminated throughout the intestine but rare in systemic lymphoid organs. In addition to sharing a gut-specific gene signature with memory IgA B cells, memory IgM B cells were related to some IgA clonotypes and switched to IgA in response to T cell-independent or T cell-dependent signals. These signals induced abundant IgM which, together with SIgM from clonally affiliated PCs, recognized mucus-embedded commensals. Bacteria recognized by human SIgM were dually coated by SIgA and showed increased richness and diversity compared to IgA-only-coated or uncoated bacteria. Thus, SIgM may emerge from pre-existing memory rather than newly activated naive IgM B cells and could help SIgA to anchor highly diverse commensal communities to mucus.