Here you are: IMGT Web resources > IMGT Education > Tutorials > Immunoglobulines et lymphocytes B

Human immunoglobulin (IG) chain characteristics

Print of this table: Lefranc, M.-P. and Lefranc, G., The Immunoglobulin FactsBook, Academic Press, London, UK (458 pages), 2001, ISBN:012441351X

1. Structural and biological properties of human immunoglobulins

3. IG interchain disulfide bridges per monomer

4. Lysines and cysteines of the Homo sapiens IGHG1, IGKC and IGLC1 and positions in the C-DOMAIN

5. Amino acid positions involved in ADCC, ADCP, CDC, half-life and half-IG exchange

6. IMGT engineered variant nomenclature: IGHG variants

7. Homo sapiens IGHG1 amino acids involved in the interactions with the C1q, FcγR and FCGRT

Chain characteristics Human IG chain types
Heavy chain (H) Light chain (L)
μ δ γ1 γ2 γ3 γ4 α1 α2 ε κ λ
Molecular weight (kDa) 70 60 50 50 53-57 50 55 55 70 25 25
Number of variable (V) domains 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Number of constant (C) domains 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 1 1
Length (in number
of amino acids)		 Constant region CH1 (for H) or CL (for L) 104 101 97 97 98 97 104 102 103 107 104 or 106
CH2 112 108 109 108 110 109 101 101 107 - -
CH3 112 108 106 106 105 106 112 111 108 - -
CH4 111 - - - - - - - 110 - -
Hinge region 0 58 15 12 32, 47
or 62		 12 19 6 0 - -
Membrane IG Connecting region (CO) 13 27 18 18 18 18 32 32 15 - -
Transmembrane region (TM) 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 - -
Cytoplamic region (CY) 1 1 26 26 26 26 12 12 26 - -
Secreted IG CHS (1) 20 9 2 2 2 2 20 20 2 - -
N-glycosylation sites (2) 5 3 1 1 2 1 2 4 7 0 0
O-glycosylation sites (3) - 7 - - - - 8 - - - 0
Allotypes none none G1m G2m G3m G4m none A2m Em Km none

Notes:
 (1) CHS corresponds to the tailpiece of secreted IG (see Chapter 3 of the Immuglobulin FactsBook).
(2) Only indicated for the C-REGION. N-glycosylation sites may be found in some V domains.
(3) O-glycosylation sites are located in the hinge regions of the IG delta and alpha1 chains.

See also:

Created:
18/05/2004
Last updated:
Authors:
Valérie Thouvenin, Souphatta Sasorith and Marie-Paule Lefranc
Editor:
Chantal Ginestoux