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Plasticity Under Somatic Mutation in Antigen Receptors

  • Chapter
Somatic Diversification of Immune Responses

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 229))

Abstract

After antigen binding, a subset of newly activated B and T cells is recruited into the primary follicles of lymphoid tissue where, along with follicular dendritic cells, they establish a site of vigorous lymphocyte proliferation. Within these germinal centers the processes of somatic hypermutation and selection result in the affinity maturation of antigen receptors (see, e.g., Kelsoe 1996; Wagner and Neuberger 1996). Mutation rates at the rearranged V(D)J locus and the flanking introns are up to 106 times higher than background. During the germinal center reaction, the affinities of immunoglobulins (Igs) for the eliciting antigen typically increase by factors of ten or 100 in the B cells that go on to become memory cells. Using antigen as a limited resource in a miniaturized Darwinian struggle for survival among lymphocytes is an essential component of the overall strategy employed by the immune system to effectively combat the vast majority of pathogens. Somatic mutation — though not necessarily accompanied by affinity maturation — has been described in many species, including, remarkably, (Hinds-Frey et al. 1993), the earliest extant animal with an adaptive immune system (Du Pasquier 1993)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomathematics Program, Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8203, USA

    T. B. Kepler

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA

    S. Bartl

Authors
  1. T. B. Kepler
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  2. S. Bartl
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Garnett Kelsoe D. Sc.

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Miami School of Medicine, 1600 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Martin F. Flajnik Ph.D.

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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kepler, T.B., Bartl, S. (1998). Plasticity Under Somatic Mutation in Antigen Receptors. In: Kelsoe, G., Flajnik, M.F. (eds) Somatic Diversification of Immune Responses. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 229. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71984-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71984-4_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-71986-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-71984-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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