Somatic mutation of immunoglobulin genes accounts for:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Somatic mutation of immunoglobulin genes is responsible for affinity maturation, which allows for the generation of high-affinity antibodies through selective survival of B cells with somatically mutated immunoglobulin genes. Allelic exclusion is the process by which only one of the two immunoglobulin gene alleles is expressed in a given B cell, and is not directly related to somatic mutation. Class switching from IgM to IgG and creation of the isotype are both related to alternative splicing and recombination events that occur during B cell development, not somatic mutation of immunoglobulin genes.

Somatic Mutation of Immunoglobulin Genes Accounts For