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Antibody Diversity MeSH Descriptor Data 2026


MeSH Heading
Antibody Diversity
Tree Number(s)
G05.365.036
G12.500.199
Unique ID
D000916
RDF Unique Identifier
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D000916
Scope Note
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.
Entry Term(s)
Germ Line Theory
NLM Classification #
QW 541
Previous Indexing
Antibodies (1966-1969)
Antibody Specificity (1970-1979)
Public MeSH Note
80
History Note
80
Date Introduced
1980/01/01
Last Updated
2015/06/22
Antibody Diversity Preferred
Germ Line Theory Narrower
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