The detection of five antigenically reactive regions in the soybean leghemoglobin a molecule

Abstract

By comparison with the amino acid sequence of the sperm whale myoglobin molecule five antigenicaliy reactive regions on the surface of the soybean leghemoglobin a molecule were predicted. The reactivity of these five regions was substantiated using the approach of Smithet al. (1977) in which peptides corresponding to these regions of the molecule were synthesized by a solid-phase procedure on a macroporous resin. At each step of the synthesis the peptides were tested for antigenicity using¹²⁵I-labelled anti-(leghemoglobin a) antibodies whilst still bound to the solid support.