Probing degeneracy in antigen-antibody recognition at the immunodominant site of foot-and-mouth disease virus

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2002

Authors

Gomes, P (Author) FCUP; Giralt, E (Author) Other; Ochoa, W (Author) Other; Verdaguer, N (Author) Other; Andreu, D (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Peptide Research

Vol. 59

Pages: 221-231

ISSN: 1397-002X

Publisher: Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 3 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-000-PHR

DOI: 10.1034/j.1399-3011.2002.01959.x

Abstract (EN): Antigen-antibody binding is regarded as one of the most representative examples of specific molecular recognition in nature. The simplistic view of antigenic recognition in terms of a lock-and-key mechanism is obsolete, as it is evident that both antigens and antibodies are flexible and can undergo substantial mutual adaptation. This flexibility is the source of complexities such as degeneracy and nonadditivity in antigenic recognition. We have used surface plasmon resonance to study the effects of combining multiple amino acid replacements within the sequence of the antigenic GH loop of foot-and-mouth disease virus, Our aim was 2-fold: to explore the extent to which antigenic degeneracy can be extended in this particular case, and to search for potential nonadditive effects in introducing multiple amino acid replacements. Combined Spain analysis of one such multiply substituted peptide by SPR, solution NMR and X-ray diffraction shows that antigenic degeneracy can be expected as long as residues directly interacting with the paratope are conserved and the peptide bioactive folding is unaltered.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific