Direct radiation damage is confined to a single polypeptide in rabbit immunoglobulin G

Abstract

Frozen rabbit immunoglobulin G was exposed to high-energy electrons. The surviving polypeptide subunits were determined and analyzed by radiation target analysis. Each subunit was independently damaged by radiation whether or not they were bound by disulfide bridges to other subunits, demonstrating that in IgG radiation-deposited energy did not travel across disulfide bonds.