Inclusion of a paper on antibody formation in a conferencc 011 somatic cell variation is appropriate, because antibody synthesis certainly represents a variation in cell function impressed by an external stimulus. Moreover, this alteration may persist for niaiiy years and hence raises the question of the method of its transmission through scvcrnl or many generations of cells.
Burnet and F m n c r in 1949 collected and discussed the evidence establishing the long persistence of specific antibody formation. They formulated the proposition that, once begun, synthesis can proceed in the absence of antigen and that synthetic ability rnust bc transmitted froni niothcr to daughter cell. They emphasized the importance of the difference in response between the first and subsequent exposures of thc antigen to any understanding of the cellular mechanism by which antibody protein is formed. They also pointed out that thc rise is logarithmic between the second and fourth days and suggested that this rc~prcscntcd i ~~p l i c a t i o n of sonic biological unit.
In a restatement, Buriiet ( '56) suggested that ril)onucleic acid (RNA) templates are formed complementary to the antigenic determinants 011 the foreign molecules, probably in the cell nucleus. The RNA4 templates arc then replicated, pass(.(] to the cytoplasm of another cell, and these, perhaps after h i -- ther replication, serve as templates for the synthesis of specific antibody. This is a bald and very abbreviated summary of a