Immunology

Question 1

The proteins of organisms can also be compared using immunological techniques

The protein albumin is found in many species and is commonly used for these experiments

Question 2

step 1 Pure albumin samples are extracted from blood samples taken from …………

Answer 2

multiple species

Question 3

step 2 Each pure albumin sample is injected into a …………

Answer 3

different rabbit

Question 4

step 3 Each rabbit produces …………for that specific type of ………….

Answer 4

antibodies

albumen

Question 5

step 4 The …………….. are extracted from the different rabbits and are then mixed with the different ………..samples

Answer 5

different antibodies

albumin

Question 6

step 5 The precipitate (………………..) resulting from each mixed sample is …………

Answer 6

antibody-antigen complexes

weighed

Question 7

Results and Interpretation:
The greater the weight of the precipitate, the greater the degree of

Answer 7

complementarity between the antibody and albumin

Question 8

For example, antibodies produced against human albumin will produce a larger amount of precipitate when exposed to chimpanzee albumin than when exposed to rat albumin because humans are more closely related to chimpanzees

Question 9

You may be wondering why you would use amino acids when you could look at DNA or mRNA.

It is often easier to find and isolate proteins from cells.

Genes for the same protein may have slightly different base sequences in different species as different species may contain differences in their introns which are not translated into differences in the protein molecules.

Genes can also be found on different chromosomes in different species.