<unk>  (or SHM) is a mechanism inside cells that is part of the way the immune system adapts to new foreign elements if it is confronted with (for example, microbes). It serves to diversify the receptors the immune system uses to recognize foreign elements (antigens), and allows the immune system to adapt its response to new threats during the lifetime of an organism.<unk>  involves a programmed process of mutation affecting  the variable regions of immunoglobulin genes. Unlike many other types of mutation, SHM affects only individual immune cells, and the mutations are not transmitted to offspring.
Mistargetted<unk>  is currently under investigation as a possible mechanism in the development of B-cell lymphomas.
Somatic hypermutation
Dimroth rearrangement
Mitotic crossover
Cre-Lox recombination
Self-replication
Thermal depolymerization
Radical polymerization
Reverse transcription