Published Papers

Molecular Architecture and the Processes of Life. May 28, 1948.

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Title:	Molecular Architecture and the Processes of Life [10 of 15]
Creator:	Pauling, Linus, 1901-
Publisher:	Nature.
Date:	1948-05-28
Subject:	Molecular structure
Description:	Nature, vol. 248. Original typescript.
Type:	Text
Format:	text/plain
Language:	en
Identifier:	jessebootlecture-pg10.jpg
Source:	Master scanned with Epson GT-10000+ flatbed scanner at 600 dpi.
Rights:	http://osulibrary.orst.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/copyright.html
Full Text:	When we think about the mechanism of manufacture of these specific antibodies, with the power of combining essentially only with the molecules of the antigen that were originally injected into the animal, we may consider two reasonable possibilities : first, that the power of producing these anti- bodies specific to the particular antigen, say, egg albumin, is a power that was developed in the course of evolution of the animal, as a means of protect- ing itself against hen egg albumin, and that this power is called into play by the first injection of the egg albumin ; and second, that the power is not a special one, developed in the course of evolution as a response to the partic- ular antigen, but is a general power, namely, the power of moulding the precursor of the antibody into a form suitable to any foreign substance, antigen, that may get into the animal body. Dr. Karl Landsteiner, of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, carried out experiments to show that the second of these statements is the correct one. Dr. Landsteiner was the man who discovered the human blood groups, and made it possible for blood transfusions to be carried out safely.. He found that he could cause animals to produce antibodies specific to chemical substances that were surely different from any that the animal or any of its ancestors in the course of evolution could have had contact with. One of the substances with which he carried out a large amount of work is a compound of arsenic, para-aminobenzenearsonic acid. Landsteiner caused the molecules of this substance to be attached to an ordinary protein, obtained from sheep serum, and injected this azoprotein into rabbits. In response to this injection rabbits produced antibodies with the specific power of combining with the benzenearsonic acid molecules. This power is shown by the ability of these antibodies to form a precipitate with any azoprotein containing benzene- arsonic acid groups, attached to a protein that might be different from that used in the original injection, or even to combine with benzene-arsenic acid itself, and simple derivatives of benzenearsonic acid. The explanation of the power of specific combination of antibodies with benzenearsonic acid and other antigens was proposed, in a general way, about eighteen years ago, by Breinl and Haurowitzs, Jerome Alexander6, and Stuart Mudd'. This explanation is that the antibody moulds itself to a portion of the antigen molecule, producing a combining region of the antibody that is complementary in structure to a portion of the antigen molecule.