A model for antibody diversity based on non-conservative DNA synthesis errors

✍ Scribed by C.W. Barnhill; K. Lemone Yielding

• Book ID: 104155208
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 673 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-5193(74)80053-6

✦ Synopsis

A new model is proposed for antibody diversity based on somatic mutations produced during non-conservative DNA synthesis. The model consists of two basic alternatives. The first permits somatic mutations as a result of background non-conservative DNA synthesis in the absence of antigen, while the second alternative requires antigen stimulation to activate such non-conservative synthesis. Antigen, then, would serve to select a particular cell line and expand an appropriate clone of similar cells. An obvious advantage of our model is the capacity to reconstruct variable genes in the absence of cell division, and without affecting other DNA sites. The model is shown to be consistent with known immunological phenomena and is discussed in terms of current experimental data.