IMMUNOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The two heavy chains are linked to each other by disulfide bonds and each heavy chain is linked to a light chain by a disulfide bond. In any given immunoglobulin molecule, the two heavy chains and the two light chains are identical, giving an antibody molecule two identical antigen-binding sites (see Fig.

Detailed explanation-2: -The four polypeptide chains are held together by two disulfide bonds between the light and heavy chains and disulfide linkages between the two heavy chains.

Detailed explanation-3: -Disulfide bonds function to stabilize the tertiary and/or quaternary structures of proteins and may be intra-protein (i.e., stabilizing the folding of a single polypeptide chain) or inter-protein (i.e., multi-subunit proteins such as antibodies or the A and B chains of insulin).

Detailed explanation-4: -A typical IgG1 antibody contains two identical light chains and two identical heavy chains. It contains a total of 16 disulfide bonds including 4 inter chain disulfide bonds in the hinge region and 12 intra chain disulfide bonds associated with 12 individual domains (Figure 1).