variable region

American  

noun

Immunology.

1. a configuration in the upper branches of the Y of an antibody molecule, unique in each antibody type, that binds with the determinant of a specific antigen.

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variable region Scientific  

1. The portion of the amino (NH ₂) terminal of an antibody's heavy and light chains having a variable amino acid sequence. The structure of the variable region determines the antigenic specificity of the antibody.

2. Compare constant region

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Example Sentences

They found that the variable region #4VL can switch between monomeric and tetrameric states.

From Science Daily

"Our study provides the first report on the atomic-level structure of the 3D-DS phenomenon in an antibody light chain's variable region," points out Hirota.

From Science Daily

Somatic mutations within the immunoglobulin variable region were almost exclusively presented by MHC class II. We isolated circulating CD4+ T cells specific for immunoglobulin-derived neoantigens and found these cells could mediate killing of autologous lymphoma cells.

From Nature

There is also an additional variable region in the Illumina TruSeq adaptors that has been incorporated and shown in green.

From Nature

González-Candelas and his colleagues used patterns of changes in a highly variable region of the HCV genome to sort the viruses into clades, or branches of a tree that illustrate their evolutionary relationships.

From Nature