Usually Antigen Binding site is located within variable region of Heavy chain and light chain, But in the antibody structure representation why the Heavy chain is on the top and Light chain is on bottom among the Heavy chain-Light chain sandwich, Why can't it be otherway around i.e Light chain on the top and heavy chain on the bottom among the Heavy chain-Light chain sandwich?
I've shown in the below picture of the 2 different possibilities of Heavy and Light chain arrangement of an Antibody
Left side picture : Heavy chain on top and Light chain on Bottom
Right side picture : Light chain on top and Heavy chain on Bottom
Can someone tell me which representation of Antibody is correct and why?
Neither is a correct representation. Antibodies are 3D-structures.
If you review the different crystal structures of different igg monoclonal antibodies the light chain is normally slightly below the heavy chain https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1061692. I am not sure if this is true of all isotupes, as the hinge region in each one is quite different, with different degrees of flexibility...but for exam or presentation purposes, I would stick with the convention (kappa or lambda light chains beneath).
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