Identification of antigenic residues on apamin recognized by polyclonal antibodies.
The structural requirements for antigenic recognition of apamin--an 18-amino acid, disulfide-bridged peptide--by rabbit antibodies were defined using a set of 18 apamin analogs in a competition liquid-phase radioimmunoassay. Some residues contribute considerably to antigenic recognition, e.g. Ala10, Arg13, and others to a lesser extent, e.g. Arg14, Glu7 and Thr8. The N- and C-terminal moieties of apamin are less antigenically important. These findings suggest that a good part of antibody specificities are directed to the central tightly folded part of the molecule. They are consistent with the observation that in saturating conditions, labeled apamin can, on average, bind one specific Fab fragment.
Laboratoire de Biochimie, CNRS URA 1179 INSERM U172, Faculté de Médecine Secteur Nord, Marseille, France.
M L
ML
Defendini
E M
EM
Bahraoui
C
C
Labbe-Jullie
A
A
Regnier-Vigouroux
M
M
el Ayeb
J
J
van Rietschoten
H
H
Rochat
C
C
Granier
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D001030:Apamin / Q000276:immunology*; D001514:Bee Venoms / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis*; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
D000906:Antibodies; D001514:Bee Venoms; D000939:Epitopes; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; D001030:Apamin