Chemically reactive immunogens lead to functional convergence of the immune response

H. Shulman, C. Makarov, A.K. Ogawa, F.E. Romesberg, E. Keinan, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2000) 122:10743–10753.
Hammett correlation studies of the aldol and retroaldol reactions catalyzed by antibodies 38C2 and 24H6 reveal that although the two antibodies have broad substrate specificities, they utilize slightly different mechanisms. Antibody 38C2 adopts a mechanism that is reminiscent of an acid-catalyzed aldol reaction, while antibody 24H6 follows a mechanism that is similar to the base-catalyzed reaction.