Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Leatherbarrow, Robin J.
• Stedman, Margaret
• Wells, Timothy N.C.

Titel

Structure of immunoglobulin G by scanning tunnelling microscopy

Ist Teil von

• Journal of molecular biology, 1991-09, Vol.221 (2), p.361-365

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

1991

Quelle

Elsevier Journal Backfiles on ScienceDirect (DFG Nationallizenzen)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) has been used to examine the shape of individual immunoglobulin G (IgG) molecules deposited onto a graphite surface. IgG was chosen for this study as it has a well-characterized and distinctive three-dimensional structure. The micrographs clearly reveal the IgG molecule as trilobed, corresponding with the known structural organization of IgG. Comparison of these images with the structure of IgG determined by X-ray crystallography shows that the STM images are consistent with the crystal structure. This illustrates that STM is a valuable technique for examining protein structure, allowing rapid determination of the overall molecularshape that is consistent with more established techniques.