Mondo Knows Facts
Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins built from four chains
Two heavy and two light protein chains form each antibody molecule Every antibody is assembled from two long heavy chains and two shorter light chains, arranged in a Y. The tips of the arms vary enormously between antibodies and grip a specific antigen shape. The stem of the Y is constant and is the part that immune cells and complement proteins recognise. It sits in Mondo's human body collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: antibodies, proteins, immunity
Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins built from four chains: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Two heavy and two light protein chains form each antibody molecule. The figure is taken from NIH, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a human body fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.