The research-use antibody market provides important tools for scientists involved in proteomic research. There are various methods for designing primary antibodies to specifically target and detect a unique protein. In many cases, manufacturers use short peptide sequences (called the immunogen) which are used to immunize animals. 

 

There are several advantages to this process: 

• The epitope (the site where an antibody binds) is known and can be shared with customer.
• Cross-reactivity with other proteins or species can be included or excluded, based on how the design algorithm is used. 
• Peptides are easier to synthesize than large proteins, which often require recombinant expression or native purification.

 

The identification of a suitable immunogen sequence is a laborious process, which requires assessing a long protein sequence and determining the most suitable peptide candidate that will illicit the strongest immune response.  To overcome these obstacles, TDI has designed a hosted software solution, Accurate Antigen. 

 

Accurate Antigen offers researchers an elegant and accessible means of creating immunogen sequences on the fly; built with utility, ease-of-use, and efficiency in mind with the following features:

 

• Identify the best immunogen sequence with the highest potential for detecting your target.
• Multi-species reactivity, allowing you to design immunogens to work across multiple species.
• Sophisticated functionality, providing information on hydropathy, secondary structure, uniqueness, and post-translational modifications. 
• User friendly UI- Data is presented in an easy-to-understand format allowing you to instantly recognize the trade-offs and advantages of various sequences.

 

In contrast to Abdesigner, Accurate Antigen does not require installation or updating by the user.

Built with Biopython, Accurate Antigen maintains a live connection to NCBI servers, ensuring your peptide is designed with the most up-to-date information available.  

Using Accurate Antigen is simple:

• Load Accurate Antigen- http://accurateantigen.com/
• Input the required Uniprot Accession and Define the required parameters. Choose the desired Species Reactivity.

Tips and Tricks

• If you are looking for an immunogen that can be used in multiple species, ensure that you take the highest Average IP and PP score. 
• After identifying the ideal immunogen sort by the iG Score from high to low. This score identifies the most suitable immunogen based on Hydropathy and Chou Fasman secondary structure score. 
• Ideally ensure that the “Other Proteins” column is empty, so that your immunogen does not overlap with proteins of the SAME species. You can then fine tune the result looking at the specific species and further analyze and modify the results.

• Export and analyze your results.

Accurate Antigen provides a comprehensive analysis of the generated peptides, including:

• Immunogenicity Scores, Uniqueness Scores and Conservation Scores. 
• Protein Features- structural domains, variable regions, and annotated PTMs.