title: The molecular evolution of the immune response.
abstract: In recentyears the molecular basis of immunoglobulin diversity has been uncovered. Little is known, however, about its significance and the mechanisms that generate it in the whole organism. In this article Tim Manser and his colleagues discuss ways in which this diversity is used in the establishment of immunity, and seek to explain how genetically identical individuals generate widely diverse immune responses to the same antigen and some antigens reproducibly elicit similar immune responses (recurrent idiotypes) in all individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manser
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wysocki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gridley
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Near
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gefter