Activation-Induced Deaminase: On the Targeting Mechanism of AID to the Immunoglobulin Loci

The mechanism of hypermutation, the process needed for B cell affinity maturation, is one of the last great mysteries in molecular biology. Activation-induced deaminase (AID) is absolutely required for hypermutation, but the mechanism by which it is recruited specifically to antibody-encoding genes remains enigmatic. This book summarizes the research on AID in the context of its central role in the affinity maturation of B cells.