Fig 9.

Effect of enzyme digestion on the trimer affinity of the MAbs 4E10 and Z13e1. 4E10 (A) and Z13e1 (B) MAbs were titrated against undigested or digested E168K+N189A WT VLPs as indicated. Below each gel, the density of the trimer band is shown as a histogram, determined using UN-SCAN-IT densitometry software (Silk Scientific). The band density in the absence of MAb is set at 100%, and any trimer binding/depletion is shown as a drop in trimer staining as the trimer becomes complexed with the MAb. Note that the trimer density of the digested E168K+N189A WT trimer VLPs is somewhat weaker than that of the undigested E168K+N189A WT VLP trimer (compare lanes 1 and 8 in panel A and lanes 1 and 7 in panel B). Therefore, the density of unliganded trimer in each of these control lanes was set at 100%.