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. 1988 Nov;85(21):8206–8210. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.21.8206

Stepwise intraclonal maturation of antibody affinity through somatic hypermutation.

C Kocks 1, K Rajewsky 1
PMCID: PMC282396  PMID: 3263647

Abstract

Using recombinant DNA techniques, we reconstructed a genealogical tree (Sablitzky, F., Wildner, G. & Rajewsky, K. (1985) EMBO J. 4, 345-350) that connects three clonally related B cells producing somatically mutated antibodies to a progenitor cell expressing a germ line-encoded antibody. The somatic mutants had been isolated from an in vivo immune response. The germ line-encoded progenitor antibody bound the antigen with high affinity. Intraclonal affinity maturation occurred stepwise over a 15-fold range.

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Selected References

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