Enzymes detection facilitated

EIA systems take advantage of the extreme specificity and affinity with which antibodies bind antigens which stimulated their initial production, coupled to the catalytic efficiency of enzymes, which facilitates signal amplification as well as straightforward detection and quantification. In most such systems, the antibody is immobilized on the internal walls of the wells in a multi-well microtitre plate, which therefore serves as collection of reaction mini-test tubes. 

THE CATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF ENZYMES FACILITATES THEIR DETECTION... 

The detection of restriction fi agment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) facilitates prenatal detection of hereditary disorders such as sickle cell trait, beta-thalassemia, infant phenylketonuria, and Huntington s disease. Detection of RFLPs involves cleavage of double-stranded DNA by restriction endonucleases, which can detect subtle alterations in DNA that affect their recognized sites. Chapter 40 provides further details concerning the use of PCR and restriction enzymes for diagnosis. 

Antibody molecules have no inherent characteristic that facilitates their direct detection in immunoassays. A second important step in developing a successful immunoassay, therefore, involves the incorporation of a suitable marker . The marker serves to facilitate the rapid detection and quantification of antibody-antigen binding. Earlier immunoassay systems used radioactive labels as a marker (radioimmunoassay RIA) although immunoassay systems using enzymes (enzyme immunoassays EIA) subsequently have come to the fore. Yet additional immunoassay systems use alternative markers including fluorescent or chemiluminescent tags. 

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