Question

procedure used in immunotaxonomy in 200 words

Answer 1

Immunological techniques are methods that compare the immunological differences in between the different species of animals. These techniques give results of overall similarity and their taxonomic affinities. These techniques use the ' 'Law of Proportionality' according to which similar or animals that are closely related to each other have similar serological makeup of the antigens and the antibodies.

The procedures that are used to study Immunotaxonomy in animals are - 

1. Ouchterlony diffusion method - It is an economical method where small amounts of antigen and antibodies are diffused through agar gels. A line of precipitation arcs are formed when there is a reaction in between the antigen and the antibody. In dissimilar samples, the arcs of precipitation are not formed.

2. Immunoelectrophoresis - It is not a very commonly used method as the precipitation arcs that are formed from the mixture of the antigens and the mixture of antibodies make it difficult to interpret the correct pair.

Based on the immunoelectrophoretic studies using Immunotaxonomical affinities and results, the phylogenetic trees of organisms can be predicted.