In Other Animals
The immunoglobulin light chain genes in tetrapods can be classified into three distinct groups: kappa (κ), lambda (λ), and sigma (σ). The divergence of the κ, λ, and σ isotypes preceded the radiation of tetrapods. The σ isotype was lost after the evolution of the amphibian lineage and before the emergence of the reptilian lineage.
Other types of light chains can be found in lower vertebrates, such as the Ig-Light-Iota chain of Chondrichthyes and Teleostei.
Camelids are unique among mammals as they have fully functional antibodies which have two heavy chains, but lack the light chains usually paired with each heavy chain. The functional role of this separate repertoire is unknown as yet.
Read more about this topic: Immunoglobulin Light Chain
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“I wish more and more that health were studied half as much as disease is. Why, with all the endowment of research against cancer is no study made of those who are free from cancer? Why not inquire what foods they eat, what habits of body and mind they cultivate? And why never study animals in health and natural surroundings? why always sickened and in an environment of strangeness and artificiality?”
—Sarah N. Cleghorn (1976–1959)