Hypermutation at the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus in a pre-B-cell line

Most cells in the well-known pre-B-lymphocyte line 18-81 have correctly assembled genes for both alleles at the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus. Only one allele is "active"; the other, "silent" allele contains an amber termination codon. The rate of reversion of this amber codon was determined to be 0.3-1 X 10(-4) per cell generation. This high rate is termed hypermutation.