Process
Adaptive immunity
Slower, highly specific defenses carried out by B and T cells, which remember infections they have met before.
Antibody
A Y-shaped protein made by B cells that binds a specific target. Rearranging gene segments creates enormous antibody diversity.Source: NHGRISource: Tonegawa, 1983
Also called immunoglobulin.
Molecule
How Antibody connects
Antibody is used by
Technology or method
Monoclonal antibodies
Identical antibodies made by cultures descended from a single fused cell, used in research, diagnostics and medicine.
Antibody is an example of
Level of life
Protein
A chain of amino acids folded into a working shape. Proteins act as enzymes, structures, signals and transporters.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Antibody (opens the original in a new tab)
National Human Genome Research Institute. Talking Glossary of Genomic and Genetic Terms. National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducationalSomatic generation of antibody diversity (opens the original in a new tab)
Tonegawa S (1983). Nature 302:575-581.
Peer-reviewedReview