Somatic Diversification of Immune Responses

Discovery of the mechanism for V(D)J hypermutation remains a basic goal of immunology despite the best efforts of many labo­ ratories. The existence of catalyzed, site-specific mutation and its exploitation for the somatic evolution of lymphocytes are re­ markable adaptations, yet since the discovery of hypermutation in 1970 (see cover), much hard work has generated little. Indeed, our knowledge o...