16 Questions
What is the phenomenon called when an individual B cell can express an Ig heavy chain protein encoded by only one of the two inherited alleles?
Allelic exclusion
What is the role of a μ protein produced from the recombined heavy chain locus in forming a pre-BCR?
Inhibit rearrangement of the Ig heavy chain locus on the same chromosome
What happens if the first rearrangement of the Ig heavy chain locus is non-productive?
One allele remains in germline configuration or non-productively rearranged
At what stage does each developing B cell initially rearrange a κ light chain gene?
Pre-B cell stage
Which mechanism ensures that every B cell will express a single receptor?
Allelic inclusion
What is the role of Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) in B cells?
Initiator of mutations in somatic hypermutation and class switching
Which process leads to increased antibody affinity during a T-dependent humoral response?
Somatic hypermutation followed by selective survival of high-affinity B cells
What happens to the Ig heavy chain DNA in B cells during the class switching process?
Cut and recombined to place VDJ exon adjacent to a downstream C region
What type of mutations are generated within the variable region of expressed immunoglobulin genes during somatic hypermutation?
Point mutations
In T-dependent responses, what progeny of activated B cells undergo heavy chain isotype switching?
Progeny of activated IgM- and IgD-expressing B cells
Which process results in the production of antibodies with heavy chains of different classes like γ, α, and ε?
Heavy chain isotype switching
How many separate loci encode all of the Ig heavy chains, the Ig κ light chain, and the Ig λ light chain in humans?
Three
Which of the following is not a true statement about the clonal selection hypothesis?
The DNA rearrangement events that lead to production of antigen receptors are dependent on or influenced by the presence of antigens
What is the function of the hypervariable (complementarity-determining) regions in Ig protein domains?
They determine the specificity of the antigen-antibody interaction
Which of the following statements about the variable number of C genes at Ig loci is true?
The number of C genes at each Ig locus is variable
Which of the following statements about the germline organization of human Ig loci is true?
The germline organization of Ig genetic loci is characterized by spatial segregation of many different sequences
Test your knowledge on the gene rearrangement process in B cells that generate a diverse range of B and T cell clones. Learn about the production of functional antigen receptor genes in immature B cells and the random selection and joining of variable region gene segments.
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