Antibody's specifity...

[Bryan Heit]

Nikolai Scherbak wrote:

>Dear colleagues!
>Can antibodies raised against one protein bind also to another protein with
>the 50% similarity to the first one?
>
>Sincerely, Nikolai
>
>---
>  
>
Highly unlikely.  Antibodies are very specific, and often can 
differentiate between isoforms with less then 1% difference.  Your only 
hope would be if there was an identical shared domain between your two 
proteins of interest.  An antibody raised against that domain may be 
cross reactive, assuming of course the rest of the protein doesn't 
produce a steric hindrance, or induce different folding of the domain.

Bryan