Discussion:
Antibody Allotype Responses to a Genetically Heterogenous Family
Scenario: Amy and Hooman fell in love, got married, and had a baby named Joe. Joeâ??s grandparents are all alive and are all homozygous at IgH, but share no alleles. Joeâ??s aunts Alison and Negin are Amyâ??s and Hoomanâ??s sisters respectively. Finally, there is a cat named Tigger. Assume that you purified IgM from Hooman's serum, made Fc fragments, then used them to immunize both grandfathers as well as Aunt Alison and Tigger.
Will the specificity of any of the four anti Hooman ?Fc be exactly the same? Explain.
1. How will each of the four antisera will react with serum from each adult family member mentioned (nine if you count the cat).
2. What proportion of splenic B-cells from each adult family member would be bound by each of the four antisera?
3. For each antiserum, what are the odds (%) that it will bind IgM in Joeas serum? Explain.
4. Describe a procedure to modify the Tigger anti-Hooman ?Fc so it would behave the same as the Alison anti Hooman ?Fc in the above situations.