title: Does base composition help predispose the complementarity-determining regions of antibodies to hypermutation?
abstract: A survey of the base usage in genes coding for human antibodies reveals that more (A+T) and less (C+G) are found in the segments coding for the complementarity-determining regions, while the opposite is true for the segments coding for framework and constant regions. The possibility that this bias in base usage may contribute to hypermutation is explored.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0560, USA. eap@vger.niddk.nih.gov
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Padlan
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000235:genetics*; D001482:Base Composition / Q000276:immunology*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007127:Immunoglobulin Constant Regions / Q000235:genetics; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D007127:Immunoglobulin Constant Regions; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region