Content deleted Content added
added reference to initial publication |
m WP:CHECKWIKI error fix for #61. Punctuation goes before References. Do general fixes if a problem exists. - using AWB |
||
Line 1:
[[File:ScFv-rotation.gif|thumb|Rotating scFv fragment with highlighted complementary determining regions (CDRs)]]
[[File:Single chain variable fragment.svg|thumb|The two possible structures of a single-chain variable fragment, with the antigen binding sites including the [[N-terminus|N-termini]] on the left and the [[C-terminus|C-termini]] on the right. The linker peptides are shown as arrows.]]
A '''single-chain variable fragment''' ('''scFv''') is not actually a fragment of an antibody, but instead is a [[fusion protein]] of the variable regions of the [[Immunoglobulin heavy chain|heavy]] (V<sub>H</sub>) and [[Immunoglobulin light chain|light chains]] (V<sub>L</sub>) of [[immunoglobulins]], connected with a short linker [[peptide]] of ten to about 25 [[amino acid]]s.<ref>Huston, J. S., Levinson, D., Mudgett-Hunter, M., Tai, M. S., Novotný, J., Margolies, M. N., … Crea, R. (1988). Protein engineering of antibody binding sites: recovery of specific activity in an anti-digoxin single-chain Fv analogue produced in Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 85(16), 5879–5883.</ref>
This protein retains the specificity of the original immunoglobulin, despite removal of the constant regions and the introduction of the linker.<ref name="Peterson" /> The image to the right shows how this modification usually leaves the specificity unaltered.
| |||