Avidity

In the context of biochemistry, avidity refers to the accumulated strength of multiple affinities of individual non-covalent binding interactions, such as between a protein receptor and its ligand, and is commonly referred to as functional affinity. As such, avidity is distinct from affinity, which describes the strength of a single interaction. However, because individual binding events increase the likelihood of other interactions to occur (i.e. increase the local concentration of each binding partner in proximity to the binding site), avidity should not be thought of as the mere sum of its constituent affinities but as the combined effect of all affinities participating in the biomolecular interaction. A particular important aspect relates to the phenomenon of ′avidity entropy′. Biomolecules often form heterogenous complexes or homogenous oligomers and multimers or polymers. If clustered proteins form an organized matrix, such as the clathrin-coat, the interaction is a described as matricity.