Structure
MBL has an oligomeric structure (400-700 kDa), built of subunits that contain three presumably identical peptide chains of about 30 kDa each.
Although MBL can form several oligomeric forms, there are indications that dimers and trimers are not biologically active and at least a tetramer form is needed for activation of complement.
Read more about this topic: Mannan-binding Lectin
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature.”
—Guillaume Apollinaire (18801918)
“With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.”
—James Thurber (18941961)
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)