Antibody Structure Problem Set

Problem 4. Antigen epitopes

The epitope is defined as the part of the antigen that is recognized by antibody. The structural studies using hen egg white lysozyme as an antigen show that the epitope is:

A.	a single amino acid
B.	continuous, or limited to a single stretch of amino acids
C.	discontinuous, or can include amino acids from non-adjacent stretches of antigen amino acids By interacting with a large surface of the antigen, a large number of weak contacts can make the association both specific and very strong.
D.	the entire antigen