ABSTRACT
Antibodies are molecules which are produced by the immune systems of mammals and lower animals as part of the body’s response to invasion by micro-organisms. Antibodies are made by lymphocytes and each antibody is relatively specific for a particular molecule or part of a molecule. As serum contains not only the antibody of interest but also antibodies normally produced by the animal, it helps to purify the antibodies for biological studies so that there are fewer non-specific reactions to worry about. This is easily achieved with anti-peptide antibodies by coupling the synthetic peptide to an immovable support. Antibodies are extremely useful for examining the potential role of proteins in cell metabolism. The antibody will bind the protein and then another compound, called protein A-sepharose, can be used to bind the antibody. A fluorescent tag can be attached to the antibody and microscopic evaluation used to determine where the protein is in the cell.
