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.
Original Settings
Atoms and Bonds