Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2000;21(2-3):89-102.
doi: 10.1385/IR:21:2-3:89.

Relative roles of somatic and Darwinian evolution in shaping the antibody response

M Diaz  1 , N R Klinman
Affiliations
Review

Relative roles of somatic and Darwinian evolution in shaping the antibody response

M Diaz et al. Immunol Res. 2000.

Abstract

The need for a highly specific system of recognition in immunity has resulted in the evolution of several somatic mechanisms such as V(D)J recombination, to diversify the repertoire of B cells. Therefore, repertoire diversification is the driving force for the cells that constitute the bulk of the response to unpredictable pathogens, the B2 naive B cells. Predictability of antigen, on the other hand, has played a major role in shaping the neonatal repertoire, in which evolution to recognize commonly encountered pathogens has driven the germline sequence of several VH segments that are used frequently in the neonatal repertoire. A third population, the memory B cell population, is generated to respond to a known pathogen, but predictability of the pathogen is not acquired until after a first exposure. Therefore, it is somatic evolution in germinal centers that drives the generation of high-affinity memory B cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Exp Med. 1998 Jun 1;187(11):1745-51 - PubMed
    1. Cell Mol Life Sci. 1999 Jan;55(1):96-107 - PubMed
    1. Immunity. 1996 Jan;4(1):57-65 - PubMed
    1. Curr Opin Immunol. 1995 Apr;7(2):214-27 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1998 Feb 20;279(5354):1159-60 - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources