Question

During a secondary response and subsequent responses, the cell surface receptors and antibodies show extensive somatic hypermutation, and the antibodies produced show an increase in?

a) Amount
b) Quantity
c) Affinity
d) Variability
e) Recombination

Answer 1

Option (c), During secondary and subsequent immune responses, the antibodies produced show an increase in affinity due to somatic hypermutation that enhances their ability to bind specifically to antigens.

Step-by-step explanation:

During a secondary immune response and subsequent responses, the antibodies produced show an increase in affinity towards the antigens they are meant to target. This heightened affinity is a result of somatic hypermutation, which introduces small changes within the variable regions of immunoglobulin genes that code for the antibody-binding sites.

As a consequence of this hypermutation, antibodies are able to bind more tightly and specifically to the antigens, hence why affinity, and not amount, quantity, variability, or recombination, increases in subsequent immune responses.