hypervariable

adjective

hy·​per·​var·​i·​able ˌhī-pər-ˈver-ē-ə-bəl 

: relating to or being any of the relatively short extremely variable polypeptide chain segments in the light chain or heavy chain of an antibody

also : relating to, containing, or being a highly variable nucleotide sequence

Examples of hypervariable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their reconstruction based on archaeological, linguistic or human genetic data is often hampered by the limited number of informative polymorphisms in classical human genetic markers, such as the hypervariable regions of the mitochondrial DNA. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 20 July 2011

Word History

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

hypervariable

adjective

hy·​per·​vari·​able -ˈver-ē-ə-bəl, -ˈvar- 

: relating to or being any of the relatively short polypeptide chain segments in the variable region of an antibody light chain or heavy chain that are extremely variable in the sequence of their amino acid residues and that determine the conformation and specificity of the site which recognizes and combines with an antigen

also : relating to, containing, or being a highly variable nucleotide sequence