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Although each B cell carries two alleles encoding the immunoglobulin heavy and light chains, ony one allele is expressed

a. true
b. false

User Indre
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1 Answer

3 votes

Final answer:

It is true that B cells express only one allele for immunoglobulin heavy and light chains due to allelic exclusion, ensuring unique antigen-binding specificity for each B cell's antibodies.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question appears to relate to the expression of immunoglobulin alleles in B cells. The statement is true. Although each B cell has two alleles for the immunoglobulin heavy chain and two for the light chain, it only expresses one allele of each type due to a process known as allelic exclusion. This ensures that each B cell produces antibodies with a unique antigen-binding specificity. Antibody diversity is generated through a mechanism involving random recombination and mutation of gene segments encoding the variable regions of the antibody heavy and light chains. The antigen-binding specificity is determined by the variable domains, while the constant domains determine the antibody class and its immunological function. B cells undergo maturation in which they can eventually secrete large quantities of the antibody.

User Adithya Surampudi
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