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Mechanisms of generating antibody diversity

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Diversity is very important in ensuring a sufficient immune response to accommodate the vast number of immune response. This solution describes in detail, with the aid of a diagram, how B cells generate diversity in the antibodies they produce.

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This solution describes, with the aid of a diagram, how B lymphocytes are able to generate a very diverse pool of antibodies. The solution gives a detailed description of the mechanisms used to generate this diversity.

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Antibody diversity derives from the combination of several different factors. The antibody molecule consists of a constant region, a variable region and junction (J) regions. In the germline, these sections are encoded by different exons spread along the chromosome. As a B cell develops, these exons re-arrange to be juxtaposed to one another, forming an intact gene (see attached figure). In the mouse there are 200-500 variable regions from which to choose, and 4 different J regions, ...

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