Dictionary

Vocabulary Terms from Chapter 6

All definitions paraphrased from the textbook: Punt, Jenni, et al. Kuby Immunology. 8th ed., New York, Macmillan Education, 2019.

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Nonamer- nine nucleotides that function alongside heptamer as RAG/ recombination binding sites and are located 'down-- and upstream of the V,D, and J segments' responsible for immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor coding. (G-14)

Unlike the heptamer which is 'absolutely conserved', the nonamer is 'partially conserved.'

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Heptamer- seven nucleotides that are adjacent to the immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene segments and serve as the RAG 1//2 protein complex's recognition signal and 'binding site'. (G-9)

The prefixes for nonamer and heptamer are helpful in remembering the number of nucleotides each has.

Variable region-- 'highly variable' amino terminal regions of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor chains that contribute to their antigenic specificity. (G-21))

The variable regions of heavy and light chains both consist of V and J segments, but heavy chains also contain a D segment.

Photo credit: Immcarle70, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons