You work in an immunology lab that is trying to develop new vaccines against influenza virus proteins. You've been assigned the task of making immunoglobulins that bind the antigenic determinants found on the surface of influenza viral particles. Which of the following parts of the immunoglobulin would you alter to increase the strength of its binding to a specific antigenic determinant?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The variable regions of both the heavy and light chains are the regions responsible for binding to specific antigenic determinants. Altering these regions can increase the strength of binding to a specific antigenic determinant. The disulfide bonds and constant regions do not directly contribute to the specificity of antigen binding, so altering these regions would not increase binding specificity. Altering only the light chain variable regions would not be sufficient to increase binding strength, as the heavy chain variable regions also contribute to antigen binding. Finally, altering the light chain variable and constant regions would not necessarily increase binding specificity since the constant region does not play a direct role in antigen binding.

You Work in an Immunology Lab That Is Trying to Develop