Page 514 - Veterinary Immunology, 10th Edition
P. 514
VetBooks.ir Immunoglobulin Diversity
To make as many different antibodies as possible, it is necessary to
diversify the amino acid sequences of the variable domains in both
light and heavy chains. Since these amino acid sequences are
determined by the nucleotide sequences, mechanisms must exist for
generating this nucleotide sequence diversity. In practice, gene
diversity is generated through three distinct mechanisms: gene
recombination, somatic mutation, and gene conversion. The relative
importance of each of these mechanisms differs among species, and
the diversity-generating mechanisms that operate in humans and
mice are not the same as those that operate in domestic mammals.
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