, Volume 21, Issue 2-3, pp 89-102  Relative roles of somatic and
darwinian evolution in shaping the antibody response  Rent the
article at a discount  Rent now  * Final gross prices may vary
according to local VAT.  Get Access   The need for a highly
specific system of recognition in immunity has resulted in the
evolution of several somatic mechanisms such as V(D)J
recombination, to diversify the repertoire of B cells.
Therefore, repertoire diversification is the driving force for
the cells that constitute the bulk of the response to
unpredictable pathogens, the B2 naïve B cells. Predictability of
antigen, on the other hand, has played a major role in shaping
the neonatal repertoire, in which evolution to recognize
commonly encountered pathogens has driven the germline sequence
of several VH segments that are used frequently in the neonatal
repertoire. A third population, the memory B cell population, is
generated to respond to a known pathogen, but predictability of
the pathogen is not acquired until after a