∞ generated and posted on 2022.01.27 ∞
Description of the potential of single antibody to bind to more than one otherwise identical target.
| Antibodies are proteins consisting of multiple polypeptides and with some antibodies consisting of more polypeptides than others. In particular, some antibodies possess double the number of polypeptides or more. The result is that these antibodies consisting of doublings or more polypeptides can bind to a greater numbers of otherwise identical epitopes and thus these antibodies possess higher Valences. |
The more targets that a single antibody can bind then the greater that antibody's valence. For antibodies such as IgG and IgE, the valence is 2. For IgA the valence is 4. For IgM the valence is 10.
The result of such binding to multiple targets is referred to as crosslinking and gives rise to the agglutination and precipitation of antigens along with associated structures.
Contrast with valence electron.