title: The Structure of Natural and Recombinant Antibodies.
abstract: Immunoglobulins (Ig) isotypes A, D, E, G, and M are glycoproteins which are mainly composed of a "Y"-shaped Ig monomer (~150 kDa), consisting of two light and two heavy chains. Both light and heavy chains contain variable (N-terminal) and constant regions (C-terminal). Each light chain consists of one variable domain and one constant domain, whereas each heavy chain has one variable domain and three constant domains. However, heavy-chain antibodies consisting of only heavy chains and lacking the light chains are found in camelids and cartilaginous fishes. Unlike other immunoglobulins, the heavy chain of avian antibody IgY (~180 kDa) consists of four constant domains. The single-chain variable fragment (scFv; ~25 kDa) of an antibody contains variable regions of antibody heavy and light chains. The fragment antigen-binding (Fab; ~50 kDa) region has the full antibody light chain but the heavy chain is composed of a variable region and one constant domain.
authors.affiliation: School of Biotechnology and Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. fay2580@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: School of Biotechnology and Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: O'Kennedy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000737:chemistry; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
keywords: Fab; IgG; IgY; ScFv