Answer
If the somatic hypermutation does not occurs in the germinal center of the lymph node, the same antibodies will be produced after secondary infection as made during the primary immune response. The somatic hypermutation fine tunes the immune response and is responsible for generating diverse receptor by inducing point mutations in the variable region. Hence option (d) is considered as a correct answer.
Work Step by Step
The process of somatic hypermutation mainly affects the variable regions of the genes responsible for encoding immunoglobulins. It only affects the individual’s cells of the immune system so that the programmed mutations generated due to this only transmitted to the specific cell lines and are not transmitted to the offspring. Somatic hypermutation aids in the secondary immune response toward the same antigen and processes the much more efficient response in comparison with the primary response.
The memory cells plays a key role in this process, including B (lymphocytes maturing in the bone marrow) and T (lymphocytes maturing in the thymus) cells that raise the number of the lymphocytes, which have appropriate antigen–antibody receptors. Thus, in absence of the somatic hypermutation, the same antibodies will be generate instead of diversity of the antibodies because of the absence of the memory cells.
