Somatic hypermutation

(noun)

a cellular mechanism by which the immune system adapts to the new foreign elements that confront it (for example, microbes). A major component of the process of affinity maturation, SHM diversifies B cell receptors used to recognize foreign elements (antigens) and allows the immune system to adapt its response to new threats during the lifetime of an organism.

Related Terms

  • V(D)J recombination

Examples of Somatic hypermutation in the following topics:

  • Antibody Genes and Diversity

    • The first stage is called somatic, or V(D)J, which stands for variable, diverse, and joining regions recombination.
    • In these rapidly dividing cells, the genes encoding the variable domains of the heavy and light chains undergo a high rate of point mutation, by a process called somatic hypermutation (SHM).
    • Somatic hypermutation involves a programmed process of mutation affecting the variable regions of immunoglobulin genes.
    • Outline the two stages which result in antibody diversity: somatic (V(D)J) and recombination stages
  • Mutation

    • They can also be induced by the organism itself, through cellular processes such as hypermutation.
  • Chemotaxis

    • Chemotaxis is the phenomenon whereby somatic cells, bacteria, and other single-cell or multicellular organisms direct their movements according to certain chemicals in their environment.
  • Botulism

    • It acts by blocking nerve function (neuromuscular blockade) through inhibition of the release of the excitatory neurotransmitter acetyl choline from the presynaptic membrane of neuromuscular junctions in the somatic nervous system.
  • Typhoid Fever

    • Diagnosis is made by any blood, bone marrow or stool cultures and with the Widal test (demonstration of salmonella antibodies against antigens O-somatic and H-flagellar).
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