[Nescafe]

Hello,

I am a bit confused about this term, I understand that it defines a multivalent binding interaction with two sites on a receptor aimed to increase binding affinity and decrease the off-rate. but I am more so confused about the following statement I read in a book.

"The multiple simultaneous interactions provided by avidity thereby provide a strengthening mechanism for molecular interactions that affect the affinity of the entire system. Importantly, the affinity of the entire system cannot quantitatively be determined as just a collection of individual monovalent interactions, as there must exist a linker between multimeric binding sites. As such, extensive design considerations must be taken into account to optimize the linker in terms of rigidity, length, orientation, and proximity between binding sites, depending on the characteristics of the system"... What?

Any help would be appreciated,

Nescafe.