This structure is a model of a human
antibody. The coordinates are from
Eduardo
A. Padlan of the National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda MD USA. "It is a composite model built from F(ab')2
fragments from Brookhaven file 2IG2.PDB, and an Fc fragment from
Brookhaven file 1FC2.PDB. Part of the hinge region and other details
are theoretically modeled. This IgG1 model is described in Fig. 1
in Anatomy of the Antibody Molecule by Eduardo A. Padlan,
Mol. Immunol. 31:169-217, 1994. " This protein
contains almostly exclusively antiparallel beta structure.
To a first approximation, the IgG antibody
molecule is shaped like a Y. It contains two heavy chains and two
light chains. The 2 branches of the Y each contain one light chain
and one part of each heavy chain. The stem is composed of the
remaining parts of the two heavy chains. Foreign molecules bind to
the tips of the two branches on the "Y" part of the molecule.
