Antibodies are used in a variety of ways in academia and industry, from tools to therapeutics. Because antibodies are produced using live processes, which are naturally error-prone, validation is required from time to time. Furthermore, to develop biological therapeutics, the protein sequence must be confirmed as part of the regulatory process.
Written by María Gerpe, PhD July 23, 2021 Why the Amino Acid Sequence Matters As proteins are assembled, they fold into different structural orders: from primary to quaternary. The exact sequence of the primary structure (the amino acid sequence) will dictate how a protein will fold and therefore function. The importance [...]
Antibody sequences are critical for antibody engineering and protein characterization in therapeutic development. For antibody reagent users, knowing the sequences allows them to perform sequence analysis/alignment to identify binding and cross-reactivity so they can conduct rational experiment design.
Because they share the same mass, isoleucine and leucine are known as isobaric amino acids. Conventional mass spectrometry-based proteomics cannot be easily used to distinguish between isoleucine and leucine.
Nowadays, DNA sequencing is so popular that it is easy to forget that the first sequenced biological material was protein – insulin, by Sanger. Sanger, and another researcher, Edman, separately pioneered protein sequencing.
One of the most important pieces of information researchers need to know during early stage antibody drug research and development is the sequence information of the antibody protein. With the advancement of mass spectrometry instrumentation and technologies, it is helpful, and sometimes critical, to conduct sequence analysis using mass spectrometry experiments.