Which mechanism explains why antibody affinity for a pathogen increases over time following vaccination, despite the limited diversity initially?

💡 Explanation

Somatic hypermutation introduces point mutations in antibody genes; B cells displaying higher affinity antibodies are preferentially selected for survival and proliferation via affinity maturation. This leads to antibodies with increased binding strength over time, because higher affinity B cells outcompete lower affinity cells, rather than directly mutating or activating complement.

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