In addition to the major immunoglobulin classes, several Ig subclasses exist in all members of a particular animal species. Antibodies are classified into subclasses based on minor differences in the heavy chain type of each Ig class. In humans there are four subclasses of IgG: IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 (numbered in order of decreasing concentration in serum).
Variance among different subclasses is less than the variance among different classes. For example, IgG1 is more closely related to IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 than to IgA, IgM, IgD or IgE. Consequently, antibody-binding proteins (e.g., Protein A or Protein G) and most secondary antibodies used in immunodetection methods cross-react with multiple subclasses but usually not multiple classes of Ig.
No comments:
Post a Comment