Evolution of shape complementarity and catalytic efficiency from a primordial antibody template

J Xu1, Q Deng, J Chen

  • 1Department of Molecular Biology and Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|December 22, 1999
PubMed
Summary

Researchers determined the crystal structure of a Diels-Alder antibody catalyst, revealing excellent shape complementarity with its transition state analog. Subtle mutations were identified as key to evolving both structural complementarity and catalytic efficiency in antibodies.

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