IMIN200 Lecture Notes - Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain, Immunoglobulin Light Chain, Single V

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Immunology and Infection
• Course: IMIN200
• Professor: All

Document Summary

After studying lecture #6, you should be familiar with the following concepts: somatic recombination. B lymphocytes are predicted to generate a large number of distinct antigen receptors (approximately 1 x 1011). This is made possible through a process known as somatic recombination. The bcr locus does not contain a linear arrangement of 1 x 1011 genes. Instead, the bcr locus consists of a sequential arrangement of gene segments. For example, the ig heavy chain locus consists of tandem arrangements of variable (v), diversity (d) and joining (j) gene segments. There are approximately 100 v segments, 27 d segments and 6 j segments. During b cell development a single d segment combines with a single j segment. The dj segment then combines with a single v segment. The choice of gene segments for each recombination event is entirely random. The result is a vdj segment that encodes the antigen-binding variable domain of the mature heavy chain of the bcr/ig.