Immunology 4 Flashcards
What do B cell receptors do?
(4 marks)
- Recognise a specific antigen e.g. peptide/ whole molecule
- Activate opsonisation
- Can kill pathogen by neutralisation or agglutination
- Variable region binds and recognises antigen
What is the difference between a B cell that is secreted or membrane bound?
(2 marks)
Secreted B cell will become an anitbody
Membrane bound B cell is a B cell receptor
What does the structure of BCR antibodies consist of?
(2 marks)
- Two heavy chains and two light chains which contain a disulfide bond
- Heavy and light chains have 3 constant regions therefore it is a conserved sequence
Which part of the anitbody is ‘flexible’?
(2 marks)
Hinge region is flexible and so is antigen binding region ot reach chains
What are the heavy and light hcains encoded by?
- Light chain is encoded by either kappa or lamda
- Heavy chain is encoded by genes (on image) that translate into different antibodies
What does a T cell do and is it membrane bound or not?
(2 marks)
- It IS membrane bound
- Recognises peptide on either MHC I/II molecules
How is diversity achieved in TCR’s and BCR’s to keep up with ever changing pathogens?
(5 marks)
- Genetic recombination
- Transcribe different combinations of GENE EXONS
- B cells shuffle gene exons encoding BCR’s/ antibodies
- T cells shuffle gene exons encoding TCRs
- Somatic cell is able to alter DNA permanently
A. What do each of the letters stand for below? (5 marks)
AND
B. What do they do in transcription and translation? (3 marks)
A.
- L - Leader
- V - Variable
- D - Diversity
- J - Joining
- C- Constant
B.
- L - takes light chain to surface after DNA been transcribed inot RNA and translated inot polypeptide chain
- Folds to form ligth chain and variable region will be sat on antigen binding site
- Heavy chain: when protein folds up V, J and D folded to sit on antigen binding site
To make one light chain what does a B cell need to transcribe?
(3 marks)
- 1x variable exon
- 1x joining exon
- 1x constant exon
To make one heavy chain what does a B cell need to transcribe?
(4 marks)
1x variable exon
1x diversity exon
1x joining exon
3x constant exons
Where does genetic recombination occur in BCR’s?
- Variable region of BCRs
- Each BCR gene has multiple copies of ‘variable’ gene exons
How does BCR create diversity with its exons?
(2 marks)
- Has multiple copies of eaxh exon, BUT it only needs one of each
- Able to take one of them and create a specific antibody
- Shown in image below through difference in exons
How many copies does the BCR gene contain of:
- Variable regions
- Diversity regions
- Joining regions
(3 marks)
- V: 40 regions
- D: 23 regions
- J: 6 regions
How many copies of variable and joining regions are present in lamda light chain and kappa?
(4 marks)
- k - v: 38 and j: 5
- l - v: 30 and j: 3
How many regions are in the β and α chains of a TCR?
(5 marks)
- β:
- V - 52
- D - 2
- J - 13
- α:
- V - 80
- J - 61