SEARCH Articles Figures Tables A cartoon of Pauling s instructive theory for the formation of how antibodies may be formed. An unspecific antibody precursor, represented as an oligomeric entity here, comes in contact with an antigen and engulfs a portion of the antigenic surface. In this contact formation, the antibody precursor would adopt a complementary structure to the antigen. In Pauling s theory, the antibody precursor would then mature to a specific antibody for that particular antigen and would then retain its conformation and specificity even after dissociation. Note [Publishers Imprint]