Tonegawa's research explained how the immune system can produce a vast
diversity of antibodies, each of which reacts with and counteracts the
effects of a separate antigen (a foreign molecule or microbe). Prior
to Tonegawa's work it was not known how the B lymphocytes (the cells
that produce antibodies) could with their limited number of genes produce
the millions of differently structured antibodies that are specific
to a comparable diversity of antigens. In the 1970s Tonegawa proved
in a series of experiments that approximately 1,000 pieces of genetic
material in the antibody-manufacturing portion of the B lymphocyte can
be shuffled or recombined into different sequences, the resulting variations
enabling the production of as many as one billion different types of
antibodies, each specific to a different antigen. A fundamental mechanism
in the immune system was thus revealed.
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