Where to find information about exact epitope antibody is binding to?

pitope and Immunogen: Understanding the Difference

Epitope is the exact site where an antibody binds to a target, and in the case of proteins, it can be linear or conformational. To determine the exact linear epitopes an antibody binds to, they need to be mapped, as described here. This technique employs short peptide fragments for sequential affinity purification of rabbit serum containing polyclonal antibodies.

Antibody product information sheets list so-called immunogen information, which describes what has been used to elicit a given antibody. The immunogen can be a short synthetic peptide of known sequence (from 7 to 30 amino acids), a longer protein fragment, or a native, purified protein.

Immunogen sequence is often not included on the product information sheet, as it is proprietary information of the company that produced the antibody. However, to ensure that the correct antibody is purchased, one can ask technical support to check whether the protein sequence we aim to detect is present and well conserved in the immunogen used to elicit the antibody. This step is necessary before any antibody is used in experimental work.

The exact site where an antibody binds to a target, such as a protein, is called an epitope. It can be linear or discontinuous.

Where to find information about exact epitope antibody is binding to?

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