Question

The immunoglobulin light chain does not have a D segment. In humans, there are two different possible light chain proteins, termed kappa and lambda. Assume that there are 35 V segments and 5 J segments in the human kappa light chain region, and there are 30 V segments and 4 J segments in the human lambda light chain region. How many possible light chain genes can be created from these different segments, simply due to combinatorial diversity

Answer 1

The number of possible light chain genes that can be created from the immune system's different segments is 295.

Step-by-step explanation:

The immunoglobulin light chain does not have a D segment. In humans, there are two different possible light chain proteins, termed kappa and lambda. The kappa light chain region has 35 V segments and 5 J segments, while the lambda light chain region has 30 V segments and 4 J segments. To calculate the number of possible light chain genes due to combinatorial diversity, we multiply the number of V segments by the number of J segments for each type of light chain protein:

Kappa Light Chain: 35 V segments × 5 J segments = 175 possible light chain genes

Lambda Light Chain: 30 V segments × 4 J segments = 120 possible light chain genes

Therefore, there can be a total of 175 + 120 = 295 possible light chain genes that can be created from these different segments.

Answer 2

295

Step-by-step explanation:

Antibodies (also known as immunoglobulins) are immune system-related proteins that circulate in the bloodstream in order to recognize pathogenic harmful substances (antigens) and neutralize them. An antibody consists of two immunoglobulin heavy chains and two immunoglobulin light chains. There are two types of immunoglobulin light chains: 1-the kappa (κ) light chain, which is encoded by the immunoglobulin κ locus; and 2-the lambda (λ) light chain, which is encoded by the immunoglobulin λ locus. The immunoglobulin light chain is a multidomain protein composed of two domains: 1- the N-terminal variable (V) domain and 2-the C-terminal constant (C) domain. V(D)J recombination is a type of somatic rearrangement process by which T and B cells can assemble different gene segments, which are referred to as variable (V), diversity (D) and joining (J) gene segments. In the question above the number of possible genomic recombination events between immunoglobulin gene segments can be calculated as >> (5 x 35) + (4 x 30) = 295.