TY  - JOUR
AU  - Stingaciu, Laura
AU  - Ivanova, Oxana
AU  - Ohl, Michael
AU  - Biehl, Ralf
AU  - Richter, Dieter
TI  - Fast antibody fragment motion: flexible linkers act as entropic spring
JO  - Scientific reports
VL  - 6
SN  - 2045-2322
CY  - London
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
M1  - FZJ-2016-02131
SP  - 22148 - 1-13
PY  - 2016
AB  - A flexible linker region between three fragments allows antibodies to adjust their binding sites to an antigen or receptor. Using Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy we observed fragment motion on a timescale of 7 ns with motional amplitudes of about 1 nm relative to each other. The mechanistic complexity of the linker region can be described by a spring model with Brownian motion of the fragments in a harmonic potential. Displacements, timescale, friction and force constant of the underlying dynamics are accessed. The force constant exhibits a similar strength to an entropic spring, with friction of the fragment matching the unbound state. The observed fast motions are fluctuations in pre-existing equilibrium configurations. The Brownian motion of domains in a harmonic potential is the appropriate model to examine functional hinge motions dependent on the structural topology and highlights the role of internal forces and friction to function.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000372914800001
C6  - pmid:27020739
DO  - DOI:10.1038/srep22148
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/807644
ER  -