Immunogenetics

Vladutiu, Adrian O.; Rose, Noel R.

doi: 10.1007/bf01564070pmid: N/A

Capra, J. Donald; Kindt, Thomas J.

doi: 10.1007/bf01564079pmid: N/A

The germ line and somatic mutation theories of antibody diversity inadequately explain some recent structural and genetic data. The “episomal” insertion theory or some modification of it, seems more consistent with contemporary observations that suggest that immunoglobulin variable regions contain information encoded in separate portions of the genome. The model proposes that at least three groups of genes control the synthesis of a single polypeptide chain. Thegroup one genes code for the relatively invariant portions of the variable region and are few in number (perhaps one per subgroup). A larger number ofgroup two genes encode the hypervariable regions, while a small number ofgroup three genes encode the constant regions. A “copy choice” mechanism is favored for the gene interaction necessary for the synthesis of a single polypeptide chain.

doi: 10.1007/bf01564090pmid: N/A