Antibodies Flashcards
What are the two regions of an antibody?
Constant region and variable region
What are the two fragments of an antibody?
Fab fragments (bind to antigens) Fc Fragments (constant region)
How many chains are there in an antibody? Describe them:
4:
2 Heavy chains (middle)
2 Light chains (outer)
Each is the same
What holds together the chains in antibodies?
Disulphide bridges
What allows for flexible binding of antibodies to antigens?
Hinge region
Which parts of an antibody are constant?
Constant region to allow membrane integration
Lower half of variable region
How does an antibody bind to an antigen?
They have many attractions to each other: H bonds Ionic VDW Hydrophobic
What is antibody affinity?
Strength of total non-covalent attractions between single antibody binding site and antigen epitope.
What is antibody avidity?
The overall strength of binding between multiple antibody binding sites (e.g. in a multimer) and multiple antigen epitopes
What is antibody cross-reactivity?
When an antibody elicited in response to one antigen can recognise a similar antigen
E.g. Smallpox and cowpox
What are immunoglobulins?
A class of soluble glycoproteins, which antibodies are a part of.
Name the classes of Immunoglobulins in order of abundance:
IgG IgA IgM IgD IgE (GAMDE)
Which classes of immunoglobulins have subclasses?
IgG and IgA
How are immunoglobulin classes named?
Based on their Heavy chain (thank fuck!)
E.g. IgG = gamma
Describe what each __mer each Immunoglobulin is
e.g. dimer
IgG: Monomer
IgA: Monomer in blood, dimer in secretions
IgM: Pentamer
