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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Analysis of Somatic Hypermutation in the JH4 intron of Germinal Center B cells from Mouse Peyer's Patches
Published on: April 20, 2021
Somatic immunoglobulin hypermutation
1Department of Immunology, Imm16, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. mdiaz@scripps.edu
Immunoglobulin hypermutation provides the structural correlate for the affinity maturation of the antibody response. Characteristic modalities of this mechanism include a preponderance of point-mutations with prevalence of transitions over transversions, and the mutational hotspot RGYW sequence. Recent evidence suggests a mechanism whereby DNA-breaks induce error-prone DNA synthesis in immunoglobulin V(D)J regions by error-prone DNA polymerases. The nature of the targeting mechanism and the trans-factors effecting such breaks and their repair remain to be determined.
Immunoglobulin hypermutation provides the structural correlate for the affinity maturation of the antibody response. Characteristic modalities of this mechanism include a preponderance of point-mutations with prevalence of transitions over transversions, and the mutational hotspot RGYW sequence. Recent evidence suggests a mechanism whereby DNA-breaks induce error-prone DNA synthesis in immunoglobulin V(D)J regions by error-prone DNA polymerases. The nature of the targeting mechanism and the trans-factors effecting such breaks and their repair remain to be determined.
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