An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

NAL Agricultural Thesaurus
U.S. Department of Agriculture

Concept Breadcrumbs

Research, Technology, Methods > biological properties and phenomena > biological resistance > immunity > antibody diversity
Fields of Study > immunology > immunity > antibody diversity
Preferred Term:

antibody diversity

Definition:
The phenomenon of immense variability characteristic of antibodies. It enables the immune system to react specifically against the essentially unlimited kinds of antigens it encounters. Antibody diversity is accounted for by three main theories: (1) the Germ Line Theory, which holds that each antibody-producing cell has genes coding for all possible antibody specificities, but expresses only the one stimulated by antigen; (2) the Somatic Mutation Theory, which holds that antibody-producing cells contain only a few genes, which produce antibody diversity by mutation; and (3) the Gene Rearrangement Theory, which holds that antibody diversity is generated by the rearrangement of immunoglobulin variable region gene segments during the differentiation of the antibody-producing cells.
Concept Schemes:
NALT Full
Broader Concept:
immunity
Entry Terms:
  • germ line theory
  • immunoglobulin diversity
URI:
https://lod.nal.usda.gov/nalt/217635
Download this Concept:
RDF/XMLCreated 2014-06-04, last modified 2017-04-12