Meet MCOL2: The Super Sleuth of Jellyfish Collagen Detection

Collagens are everywhere, from mammals to marine life like jellyfish. And we're talking about jellyfish collagen here, which is becoming quite popular due to its skin healing and immune boosting benefits. Scientists wanted to create tools to detect this special collagen, so they made four monoclonal antibodies, MCOL1, 2, 3, and 4, by giving mice a dose of moon jellyfish collagen. They figured out the DNA and protein sequences of these antibodies' variable regions. To see how well they bind to moon jellyfish collagen, they used a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor. They also checked if these antibodies stick to collagens from other jellyfish, fish scales, and even pig and cow skin. Turns out, MCOL1, 3, and 4 are picky and only bind to moon jellyfish collagen. But MCOL2 is special; it recognizes both moon and edible jellyfish collagens. Since MCOL2 had the strongest SPR responses, it likely recognizes common sequences in both types of jellyfish collagens. This makes MCOL2 the most useful for detecting jellyfish collagen.