Assuming that each heavy and light chain has an equal chance to be expressed in each cell,approximately how many possible antibodies can be expressed?

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

There are approximately 2.5 x 10^6 possible combinations of heavy and light chains that can be made. Each heavy chain has approximately 50 variable region combinations and each light chain has approximately 30 variable region combinations. Therefore, the total number of possible antibody combinations is 50 x 30 = 1500. This number is then multiplied by the number of possible heavy and light chain combinations which gives a total of approximately 3.3 x 10^6. However, this number must be divided by 2 to account for the fact that each antibody can be made with two different heavy chain isotypes (mu and delta). Therefore, the approximate number of possible antibodies is 1.65 x 10^6 or 1,920,000.

Assuming That Each Heavy and Light Chain Has an Equal