Leary Flashcards
(141 cards)
Does our genome encode for adequate functional diversity at the protein level?
No
Why is there a need to increase the functional diversity of our proteome?
Maintain homeostasis
Adapt to different conditions
To have fast biological responses that are specific
To be able to work in a crowded cellular environment
What potential mechanisms exist to increase the functional diversity of our proteome
Genetic variation: SNPs that alter protein activity (Good and bad)
Proteolytic processing: Functional activation
Splice variation: Generation of unique protein isoforms
Post-translational modification
How can a protein’s function be regulated?
Alter amount
Change its localization
Change its structure
T/F all vertebrates have an immune system
True
3 basics of adaptive immunity
Specificity: Distinguishes between self and non-self, discerns between small differences in “non-self”
Memory: Takes time for adaptive immune response to build a response
Immunity is brought about by a variety of leukocytes: Generated in bone marrow, T-cells in the thymus and B-cells in the spleen
Involves cell-mediated and humoral systems: 2 complementary systems
Responds to antigen
Antibodies are part of which arm of adaptive immunity? What cells make them?
humoral arm
B-cells
What is an antigen
any molecule that elicits an immune response
What are antibodies? Structure?
Y-shaped proteins that bind very tightly to their targets
Two light and two heavy chains that are identical
Antigen-binding sites are identical
Linked via non-covalent and covalent interactions
Functions of antibodies? Which region is responsible for which function?
Two distinct functions
Bind specifically to antigen: variable region (V)
Destroy the antigen once bound: Constant region (C)
What interactions are there between antigen and antigen-binding sites
non-covalent, need lots to bind tightly
T/f a single antigen can only elicit the formation of one antibody
False
A single antigen can elicit the formation of several different antibodies
* may recognize the same portion or different portion(s) of the antigen
Why is flexibility at the hinger and the V-C junction important
Enables binding of both arms of the antibody to antigenic sites
Do we have enough physical space in our genome to code for all the different regions of an antibody? Where do we generate antibody diversity?
Negative
Spleen
How do we generate antibody diversity
Combinatorial diversification: shuffling a deck
Junctional diversification
Are antibody-antigen interactions reversible?
Yes
Reversible until we have enough time to create antibodies with enough complementarity
What does the strength of an antibody-antigen interaction depend upon?
Affinity and avidity
What is affinity and avidity
Affinity: Strength of binding of a single copy an an antigenic determinant to a single antigen binding site
Avidity: Total binding strength of a multivalent antibody with a multivalent antigen
Why is affinity maturation integral to an effective immune response?
We are maturing and increasing the affinity of an immunoglobulin for the antigen
We are taking something that has enough chemical complementarity to bind to the antigen and maturing it to have a perfect fit
Which domains drive affinity maturation
Variable domains of H & L chains drive maturation
Which contains 3 discrete regions that are hypervariable
Why are the hypervariable regions required?
Not enough genomic space for necessary antibody diversity
Gene duplication combined with VDJ recombination provides for generation of millions of distinct antibodies
Hypermutation of these regions allows for affinity amturation of antibodies
What do T-cells do
Help with affinity maturation
Naive antibody repertoire: ensure at least one B-cell in the circulation to produce an antibody with reasonable affinity
T-cells help with somatic hypermutation: ~1 mutation per variable region per cell division
Describe affinity and avidity levels at initial immune response and end response
Initially low affinity, high avidity: antibody-antigen interaction is relatively weak
After maturation: increases the affinity
What is SCID?
Autoimmune disorder
Absence of T-cells and lack B-cell function