Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Muller R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3690842 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Müller Roger R Gräwert Melissa A MA Kern Thomas T Madl Tobias T Peschek Jirka J Sattler Michael M Groll Michael M Buchner Johannes J
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20130603 25
IgM is the first antibody produced during the humoral immune response. Despite its fundamental role in the immune system, IgM is structurally only poorly described. In this work we used X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy to determine the atomic structures of the constant IgM Fc domains (Cµ2, Cµ3, and Cµ4) and to address their roles in IgM oligomerization. Although the isolated domains share the typical Ig fold, they differ substantially in dimerization properties and quaternary contacts. ...[more]