title: Structural determinants of cobrotoxin for binding to an enzyme-linked-immunoassay plate.
abstract: In order to assess the manner in which the structural state of a protein affects the results of an ELISA, the antigenic reactivities of cobrotoxin and reduced and S-carboxymethylated (RCM-) cobrotoxin with anti-RCM-cobrotoxin antibodies were studied. The results of competitive enzyme-linked immunoassay showed that the affinity of RCM-cobrotoxin for anti-RCM-cobrotoxin antibodies was higher than that of cobrotoxin. However, the cobrotoxin-coated wells had a greater reactivity towards anti-RCM-cobrotoxin antibodies than against RCM-cobrotoxin-coated wells. The lower reactivity observed with RCM-cobrotoxin-coated plates could be improved by adding 0.01% glutaraldehyde during the coating procedure. Studies on the antigenic structures of RCM-cobrotoxin showed that it contained an immunodominant epitope at residues 22-38. Moreover, the N-terminal and C-terminal regions of RCM-cobrotoxin encompassed other antigenic determinants which exhibited low reactivities towards anti-RCM-cobrotoxin antibodies. After removal of the antibodies against residues 22-38 of cobrotoxin from anti-RCM-cobrotoxin antibodies by passage through an affinity column, the remaining antibodies exhibited a similar reactivity towards cobrotoxin and RCM-cobrotoxin. The antibodies against residues 22-38 retained a little reactivity with the RCM-cobrotoxin-coated wells. These results suggest that the structural determinants of cobrotoxin and RCM-cobrotoxin for binding to the microtitre plates differ. Unlike RCM-cobrotoxin, the loop II structure of cobrotoxin encompassing residues 22-38 is not exclusively involved in the binding of cobrotoxin to microtitre plates.
authors: Department of Biochemistry, Kaohsiung Medical College, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors: L S
authors: LS
authors: Chang
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Lin
authors: C C
authors: CC
authors: Chang
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies; D001709:Biotechnology; D003039:Cobra Neurotoxin Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry; D008745:Methylation; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D017510:Protein Folding
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D003039:Cobra Neurotoxin Proteins; D000939:Epitopes