Biochemistry 2280A Lecture : Antibodies
Document Summary
The antigen is the substance that causes the formation of the antibody bind together. If they aren"t similar they are variable regions allows the antibody to bind to different antigens-0hypervariable within variable are sensitive to amino acid changes. 2 light chains and 2 heavy chains that make up immunoglobulin each contains a variable region and a constant region. Igg is tetrameric (4 polypeptide chains) but there are 2 identical pairs. At the very tips of the light and heavy chain is the variable region bars represented hypervariable for slots of amino acids. Yhpervariable regions are critical of specificity for antigen binding site these amino acids will be very specific to the antigen. Both the heavy chain and the light chain contribute to antigen binding specificity. Often see immunoglobulin g written as a y because it takes that shape. Various domains are the loops folded region within a polypeptide.