Antibodies diversity

Antibody diversity is generated by several different mechanisms... 

Tonegawa, 5. 5omatic generation of antibody diversity. Nature 302 575-581, 1983. 

Antibody Diversity Is Augmented by Unique Genetic Mechanisms... 

Somatic Mutation Contributes to Antibody Diversity. Various estimates, some exceeding a million, have been put... 

With one exception, all the mechanisms used by B cells to generate antibody diversity are also used by T cells to generate T-cell receptor diversity. The one mechanism that does not appear to operate in T-cell receptor diversification is somatic hypermutation. This is presumably because mutation would be likely to generate killer T cells that would wantonly attack self-molecules. This is much less of a problem for B cells, since most self-reactive B cells could not be activated without the aid of specific helper T cells. 

Bentley, D.L. Rabbitts, T.H. (1981). Human VK immunoglobulin gene number implications for the origin of antibody diversity. Cell 24,613-623. 

Gough, N.M. Bernard, O. (1981). Sequences of the joining region genes for immunoglobulin heavy chains and their role in generation of antibody diversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78,509-513. 

Hood, L. Talmage, D.W. (1970). Mechanism of antibody diversity germ line basis for variability. Science 168, 325-334. 

Kaartinen, M. Makela, O. (1985). Reading of D genes in variable frames as a source of antibody diversity. Immunology Today 6,324-327. 

Kim, S., Davis, M., Sinn, E., Patten, P., Hood, L. (1981). Antibody diversity somatic hypermutation of rearranged VH genes. Cell 27, 573-581. 

Knight, K.L. Becker, R.S. (1990). Molecular basis of the allelic inheritance of rabbit immunoglobulin VH allotypes implications for the generation of antibody diversity. Cell 60,963-970. 

McKean, D., Huppi, K., Bell, M., Staudt, L., Gerhard, W., Weigert, M. (1984). Generation of antibody diversity in the immune response of BALB/c mice to influenza virus hemagglutinin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 3180-3184. 

Smith, G.P. (1976). The significance of hybridization kinetic experiments for theories of antibody diversity. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 41, 863-875. 

Victor, K.D. Capra, J.D. (1994). An apparently common mechanism of generating antibody diversity length variation of the VL-JL junction. Mol. Immunol. 31,39-46. 

Weigert, M., Perry, R., Kelley, D., Hunkapiller, T., Schilling, J., Hood, L. (1980). The joining of V and J gene segments creates antibody diversity. Nature 283,497-499. 

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