Protein surface, antigenic sites

It should be noted that the above strategy, although first employed In the delineation of protein antigenic sites. Is applicable, with appropriate adaptations, to the precise delineation and chemical synthesis of other types of protein binding sites. The Introduction of the concept of surface-simulation synthesis ( 4, ) has provided a methodology by which In principle any type of protein binding site can be mimicked synthetically after careful chemical characterization. 

Although assembled antigenic sites are more numerous, both sites are topographic in that they are composed of structures on the protein surface. However, an antibody exerts high-affinity binding to segmental sites only when those sites are in a preferred conformation. Therefore, all determinants must be conformation specific. 

The surface of a protein is essentially a continuum of potential antigenic sites. 

Amino Acid Composition of Antigenic Site. Structurally, each antigenic site on the surface of a protein antigen is composed of a number of side chains of amino acids. To date, the exact boundaries of a single... 

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