IUBio

What is the prime (') in F(ab)'2

David Peritt Peritt_d at a1.mscf.upenn.edu
Wed Sep 20 08:21:58 EST 1995


In article <marten.schneider-2009951016580001 at schneider.bmc.uu.se> M!rten
Schneider, marten.schneider at immun.uu.se writes:
>Fab fragments containing the heavy chain hinge are called Fab'. If the
>interchain disulfide bonds are intact, the two Fab' fragments remain
>associated and are called F(ab')2.

Thank you for the definitions.  However, the question remains what is the
' in Fab'??



In article <43omeu$hhu at osfb.aber.ac.uk> MARGARET FRANCES DISBURY,
mfd at aber.ac.uk writes:
>I was a biology student a long time ago & did maths in school 
>even longer ago.  I seem to remember that ' was used in set 
>theory to mean "everything that isn't X",  where X plus X' equals 
>the universal set (curly E).  Extrapolating from this, I used to 
>guess that Fab' was a denatured/altered version of Fab.

Intriquing answer.  The only addition I can add is that the Fab is still
able to bind the Ag.  But the original Ab was processed by protease to
get the Fab or F(ab)2 so this may be the answer.  Thanks.....anyone else



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