Question

Cytochrome C is a protein that functions in cellular respiration as part of the electron transport chain. It is frequently used to determine evolutionary relationships between different organisms because it is highly conserved (only differs slightly) between different organisms. A student researching evolutionary relationships between different organisms came across the following information about the differences between cytochrome C proteins in different organisms when compared to humans. Number of different amino acids compared to humansChimpanzee0Rhesus Monkey1Cow10Yeast42 The student plans to use an antibody to the human cytochrome C protein in an ELISA test on cytochrome C samples from these four organisms. What should she use as a positive control

Answer 1

Human cytochrome C

Step-by-step explanation:

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a technique widely used to detect and measure antibodies and antigens in biological samples. This technique can be used to diagnose different diseases by detecting antigens that bind to antibodies. The ELISA test consists of a plate with a capture antibody against the antigen of interest coating the plate. Subsequently, the target antigen is detected by adding a detection antibody labeled with an enzyme (e.g., alkaline phosphatase) that binds to this antigen. Finally, a particular substrate (e.g. ABTS) is added to the plate and the subsequent reaction converts it into a colored product which can be easily detected using microplate readers. In this case, the positive control will be human cytochrome C which will bind to specific antigens in order to evidence the presence of this molecule in the sample.