1lmk: Difference between revisions

[[Image:1lmk.gif|left|200px]]<br /><applet load="1lmk" size="350" color="white" frame="true" align="right" spinBox="true"  

BACKGROUND: Diabodies are dimeric antibody fragments. In each polypeptide, a heavy-chain variable domain (VH) is linked to a light-chain variable domain (VL) but unlike single-chain Fv fragments, each antigen-binding site is formed by pairing of one VH and one VL domain from the two different polypeptides. Diabodies thus have two antigen-binding sites, and can be bispecific. Direct structural evidence is lacking for the connections and dimeric interactions between the two polypeptides of the diabody. RESULTS: The 2.6 A resolution structure has been determined for a bivalent diabody with a flexible five-residue polypeptide linker between the (amino-terminal) VH and (carboxy-terminal) VL domains. The asymmetric unit of the crystal consists of four polypeptides comprising two diabodies; for one of these polypeptides the linker can be traced between the VH and VL domains. Within each diabody the two associated VH and VL domains make back-to-back interactions through the VH domains, and there is an extensive VL-VL interface between the two diabodies in the asymmetric unit. CONCLUSIONS: The structure of the diabody is very similar to that which had been predicted by molecular modelling. Diabodies directed against cell-surface antigens should be capable of bringing together two cells, such as in cell-targeted therapy, because the two antigen-binding sites of the diabody are at opposite ends of the molecule and separated by approximately 65 A.

1LMK is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_complex Protein complex] structure of sequences from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus_musculus Mus musculus]. Full crystallographic information is available from [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca-bin/ocashort?id=1LMK OCA].  

[[Category: Williams, R L.]]

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