Can anyone tell me what exactly a linear epitope is and what it does? I have a short description in a text book but it's not very descriptive and the jargon is a bit hard to understand.

An epitope is a region of a protein which an antibody binds to. A protein is a linear chain that folds up in a complex manner. If the antibody binds to a continuous amino acid sequence of the protein it is termed a linear epitope since the protein is linear amino acid chain. An antibody could also recognizes (binds to) a number of amino acids which are nearby in the protein 3D conformation, but which are not continuous, In this case it is termed a conformational epitope.

Thanks!