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Methods in
Molecular Biology 2702
Michael Hust
Theam Soon Lim Editors
Phage Display
Methods and Protocols
Second Edition
METHODS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Series Editor
John M. Walker
School of Life and Medical Sciences
University of Hertfordshire
Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK
Second Edition
Edited by
Michael Hust
Institut für Biochemie, Biotechnologie und Bioinformatik, Technische Universit€at Braunschweig,
Braunschweig, Germany
This Humana imprint is published by the registered company Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer
Nature.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
Preface
Paul Ehrlich first coined the term magic bullet to describe antibodies which were initially
described by his colleague Emil von Behring as “Antitoxine” (anti-toxins) about 125 years
ago. The Emil von Behring got the first Nobel Prize for the anti-diphtheria treatment using
polyclonal antisera. This concept of polyclonal antibodies was used for several applications
as, e.g., anti-snake venom serum preparations, anti-botulinum sera, or as passive therapy
against infectious diseases. Since the initial use of antibodies for therapy, the progress of
antibodies as a means for therapy was slower compared to the influence antibodies played in
the field of diagnostics. It was 15 years after the introduction of hybridoma technology that
phage display technology was first reported, and not long after other new technologies were
also introduced coinciding with the growing interest of adapting antibodies for therapy. The
advancement in recombinant DNA technology and phage display allowed for the selection
of fully human antibodies from antibody phage display libraries. The first fully human
antibody Adalimumab was developed by guided selection using a human antibody phage
display library. There has since been a significant number of different types of phage display
antibody libraries been developed. The advent of machine learning and artificial intelligence
has also impacted the field of antibody phage display in the number of clones it is able to
sieve and allow more in silico-based methods to complement traditional affinity maturation
strategies. The wide array of applications of phage display highlights the robustness and
durability of the method for antibody generation and other biomolecules.
This book is the second edition culminating from the success of the first edition. We
were able to collate a collection of various examples of protocols leading to the generation of
different forms of antibody libraries including libraries from different hosts as well as
different antibody selection (“panning”) strategies. We are grateful as many renowned
research groups internationally were willing to share their expertise and experience in this
book making it an ideal companion for avid researchers in the field of antibody technology. A
comprehensive list of different antibody libraries as well as novel approaches for antibody
discovery is covered in this book. The chapters in this book are divided into four sections:
the first focuses on the construction of antibody libraries, followed by selection strategies for
antibodies, complementary approaches for antibody selection, and finally other phage
display-related applications such as epitope mapping and biomarker identification. Although
a comprehensive list of topics has been covered in this book, there are still many more
chapters that can still be written considering so much activity in all the antibody laboratories
in the world. We also included a chapter on yeast display to highlight the synonymous nature
of other display technologies to phage display.
The diverse author list showcases the ability for science to transcend borders allowing
keen researchers from different parts of the world to carry out antibody development
projects. The process to put this book together has helped strengthen our friendship and
exchange between our laboratories not just on a research level but also more importantly on
a personal level. Many new friendships and ideas have been developed over the course of this
book that bolds well for cross-border collaborative initiatives. It is our hope that this book
can provide technical assistance to new groups and researchers that are venturing into the
field of antibody phage display. We also hope this book will help spur interest and ideas in the
field while expanding our growing family of enthusiastic antibody researchers.
v
vi Preface
We would like to thank all the authors whose contributions to this volume have allowed
it to be a comprehensive guide to the processes involved in antibody phage display. We
would also like to thank Prof. John M. Walker for his guidance and assistance throughout
the editorial process. We would also like to express our gratitude to our great mentors
Erhard Rhiel, Thomas Reinard, and Stefan Dübel and Zoltán Konthur and Jörn Glökler who
are great influences in our scientific careers. On a personal note, we would like to thank our
families Poi Hong, Hayley, and Hayden and Dagmar, Noah Joris, and Lenja Marie for their
patience and understanding while preparing this book and with our other commitments.
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
PART I INTRODUCTION
vii
viii Contents
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Contributors
xi
xii Contributors
Introduction
Chapter 1
Abstract
The application of antibodies has transcended across many areas of work but mainly as a research tool, for
diagnostic and for therapeutic applications. Antibodies are immunoproteins from vertebrates that have the
unique property of specifically binding foreign molecules and distinguish target antigens. This property
allows antibodies to effectively protect the host from infections. Apart from the hybridoma technology
using transgenic animals, antibody phage display is commonly considered the gold standard technique for
the isolation of human monoclonal antibodies. The concept of antibody phage display surrounds the ability
to display antibody fragments on the surface of M13 bacteriophage particles with the corresponding gene
packaged within the particle. A repetitive in vitro affinity based selection process permits the enrichment of
target specific binders. This process of recombinant human monoclonal antibody generation also enables
additional engineering for various applications. This makes phage display an indispensable technique for
antibody development and engineering activities.
Key words Antibody libraries, Biopanning, M13 bacteriophage, Monoclonal antibodies, Phage
display
1 Introduction
Michael Hust and Theam Soon Lim (eds.), Phage Display: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2702,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3381-6_1,
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023
3
4 Alia Nur et al.
Fig. 1 Structure of an antibody and various recombinant antibody formats (a) Typical structure of IgG
comprises two identical heavy chains (HC) and two identical light chains (LC) interconnected through disulfide
bonds to form a flexible Y-shaped molecule. VH and VL form the fragment variable region (Fv); Fv together with
CH1 and CL form the fragment antigen-binding region (Fab); CH2 and CH3 form the fragment crystallizable
region (Fc). (b) Some of the commonly used recombinant antibody formats includes the single-chain fragment
variable (scFv), single-domain antibody (sdAb), Fab, single-chain Fab (scFab), scFv-CH3, and scFv-Fc
2.1 Recombinant The main characteristic of antibodies is its ability to specifically bind
Formats and distinguish target antigens. As the variable region of the anti-
body molecules is responsible for antigen binding, a diverse
6 Alia Nur et al.
3.1 Immune Immune antibody libraries are constructed using B cells or plasma
Antibody Library cells from either immunized animals or disease infected individuals.
Immune libraries take advantage of the in vivo affinity maturation
and V gene hypermutation process that shapes the antibody
response upon exposure to an infection [39–41]. These processes
help shape a skewed repertoire against the infection, therefore
allowing the isolation of antibodies with higher affinities in the
nanomolar range. Like naı̈ve antibody libraries, the antibody
genes could also be isolated from PBMC, bone marrow, lymph
nodes, or spleen [42]. The library quality can be improved by
isolating donor plasma cells for library construction [43].
The antibody isotype that is typically used for the development
of immune antibody libraries is IgG, while IgA and IgE repertoires
are sometimes considered especially for mucosal-, parasitic-, and
allergy-based libraries [39]. As the nature of immune libraries is
somewhat focused in its response, the required repertoire size for
immune antibody libraries is relatively smaller compared to naı̈ve
antibody libraries. Even so, immune libraries should not be dis-
counted from the presence of an extended repertoire due to the
complexity generated by combinatorial cloning [44]. The general
application of immune antibody libraries is mainly for the genera-
tion of antibodies against a specific set of antigens that are related to
a specific infection given the nature of the skewed repertoire. Even
so, it is also possible to isolate binders against closely related anti-
gens using immune libraries [45, 46]. However, such a practice
8 Alia Nur et al.
3.2 Naı¨ve Antibody A naı̈ve antibody library as the name depicts is naı̈ve in terms of its
Library repertoire preference. Such a library is generated using B cells
from either healthy donors or individuals with no known infection
at the point of collection. The antibody genes can be retrieved by
mRNA extraction of various source materials ranging from either
peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), bone marrow, lymph
nodes, or spleen. The mRNA is then reverse transcribed into cDNA
using either oligo(dt) primers or random primers in order to pre-
serve the large and diverse repertoire of the antibody population.
After the first-strand cDNA synthesis, the specific V genes are
amplified using a set of primers designed to provide a maximum
coverage all known V gene families [42, 47, 48]. The gene cover-
age of the designed primer set is a critical aspect in antibody library
construction to ensure good gene coverage during amplification for
a diverse library repertoire [49]. Although the general repertoire of
the antibody genes is very diverse, the inclusion of a combinatorial
mixing step of the antibody genes during cloning can further
expand the diversity of the library. During cloning, the VH genes
are paired randomly with the VL gene repertoire giving rise to
multiple combinations where some may not even exist naturally
[42, 47].
Naı̈ve libraries would usually utilize the IgM repertoire for
construction of the library repertoire as it targets the repertoire
from naı̈ve B cells. The repertoire of naı̈ve antibody libraries must
be large, generally in the vicinity of between 109 and 1011 indepen-
dent clones. The diversification of the six CDRs would mathemati-
cally yield an infinite number of combinations that is sufficient to
generate a diverse repertoire. However, the ability to replicate the
possible repertoire in vitro is not possible in actual practice with the
repertoire of a phage display library usually being limited to 1010–
1011 due to the limits of transformation efficiency of E. coli
[24, 50]. Even so, the large repertoire of such libraries is sufficient
to allow isolation of antibodies against more or less infinite number
of targets. Naı̈ve antibody libraries can be used for selection of
antibodies against a wide host of targets ranging from infectious
diseases, autoimmune disease, cancer, self-antigens, and toxins
[3, 42]. The acceptance is that antibodies derived from naı̈ve anti-
body libraries could have a lower affinity, but this is not always the
case. The lower affinity clones derived from naive libraries is not a
major hindrance as these clones could be improved through down-
stream refinement such as in vitro affinity maturation [51].
Antibody Phage Display 9
3.3 Synthetic and The third and fourth classes of antibody libraries are semisynthetic
Semisynthetic and synthetic antibody libraries. Semisynthetic libraries are com-
Antibody Library posed of one antibody framework and randomization of at least
the CDR-H3 [52]. This allows a for a hybrid of natural framework
sequences with the synthetic randomization of the CDRs to gener-
ate a library of unique clones.
Synthetic libraries utilize predesigned repertoires where the
genetic makeup of the library is chemically synthesized and assem-
bled in vitro with a level of control [53]. The approach allows the
CDR and framework designs to be optimized and predefined using
bioinformatic analysis. This allows the scaffolds used for synthetic
antibody libraries to be pre-defined to promote various traits such
as good expression levels in E. coli and proper folding for good
solubility and antigen binding. The repertoire of synthetic libraries
is thus defined by predetermined CDRs that are synthetically ran-
domized to mimic either germline or rearranged V genes [54–57].
There are several different approaches that are applied for
synthetic CDR randomization. One of the most common methods
to generate randomization is through mutagenesis using degener-
ate codons such as NNN, NNS, and NNK, where N represents all
four nucleotide bases, S represents guanine (G) and cytosine (C),
and K represents G or thymine (T) [58]. Although the application
of degenerate codons is capable of providing a high diversity, the
process introduces a risk factor to the library quality. As the diversi-
fication is uncontrolled, it could yield codons that encode unnatu-
ral amino acids or stop codons that will disrupt the folding or
translation of the antibody fragments as well as solubility. An
improvement to the randomization process was introduced in the
form of trinucleotide mutagenesis (TRIM) technology. TRIM is
able to generate similar diversities devoid of the risk involved using
standard degenerate primers. TRIM applies a series of trimers
encoding for 20 amino acids instead of random combination of
nucleotides to generate the diversity in the CDRs, thus providing a
more precise and controlled manipulation process. This approach
alleviates stop codons or unfavorable amino acid distribution or
combination during diversity generation that could impede the
library quality [11, 24]. The nature of the repertoire of synthetic
antibody libraries makes it synonymous to naı̈ve libraries where a
highly diverse repertoire and library size are required. This in turn
permits the application of synthetic libraries for use in unbiased
selection against a wide range of targets [54].
A close derivative of synthetic antibody libraries can be found in
the form of semisynthetic libraries. Semisynthetic libraries are
designed to exhibit characteristics that are a combination from
both naı̈ve and synthetic library designs. In semisynthetic libraries,
the framework sequence of the library is naturally obtained from
naı̈ve B cells or a known antibody sequence [52]. The diversity of
semisynthetic libraries is dependent on the prospect of at least one
10 Alia Nur et al.
4 Conclusion
Acknowledgments
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S12896-015-0125-0
Part II
Abstract
Antibody phage display is a widely used in vitro selection technology for the generation of human
recombinant antibodies and has yielded thousands of useful antibodies for research, diagnostics, and
therapy. In order to successfully generate antibodies using phage display, the basis is the construction of
high-quality antibody gene libraries. Here, we describe detailed methods for the construction of such high-
quality immune and naive scFv gene libraries of human origin. These protocols were used to develop human
naive (e.g., HAL9/10) and immune libraries, which resulted in thousands of specific antibodies for all kinds
of applications.
Key words Antibody phage display, Single-chain fragment variable (scFv), Antibody gene library,
Naive antibody library, Immune antibody library, Library generation
1 Introduction
Michael Hust and Theam Soon Lim (eds.), Phage Display: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2702,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3381-6_2,
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023
15
16 Maximilian Ruschig et al.
2 Materials
Table 1
Primers used for first and second PCR of antibody genes for antibody gene library construction using
phagemids like pHAL14, pHAL30, pHAL35, pHAL51, or pHAL52. Restriction sites are underlined
Primer 5′ to 3′ sequence
First antibody gene PCR VH
MHVH1_f cag gtb cag ctg gtg cag tct gg
MHVH1/7_f car rts cag ctg gtr car tct gg
MHVH2_f cag rtc acc ttg aag gag tct gg
JokVH3_f1 sag gtg cag ctg gtg gag tct gg
JokVH3_f2 gar gtg cag ctg ktg gag tct gg
MHVH4_f1 cag gtg car ctg cag gag tcg gg
JokVH4_f2 cag gtg cag cta car cag tgg gg
JokVH4_f3 cag ctg cag ctg cag gag tcs gg
MHVH5_f gar gtg cag ctg gtg cag tct gg
MHVH6_f cag gta cag ctg cag cag tca gg
MHIgMCH1_r aag ggt tgg ggc gga tgc act
MHIgGCH1_r2 cgt tga cca ggc agc cca ggg
MHIgECH1_r tgg gct ctg tgt gga gg
First antibody gene PCR kappa
MHVK1_f1 gac atc cag atg acc cag tct cc
MHVK1_f2 gmc atc crg wtg acc cag tct cc
MHVK2_f gat rtt gtg atg acy cag wct cc
MHVK3_f gaa atw gtg wtg acr cag tct cc
MHVK4_f gac atc gtg atg acc cag tct cc
MHVK5_f gaa acg aca ctc acg cag tct cc
MHVK6_f gaw rtt gtg mtg acw cag tct cc
MHkappaCL_r aca ctc tcc cct gtt gaa gct ctt
First antibody gene PCR lambda
MHVL1_f1 cag tct gtg ctg act cag cca cc
MHVL1_f2 cag tct gtg ytg acg cag ccg cc
MHVL2_f cag tct gcc ctg act cag cct
MHVL3_f1 tcc tat gwg ctg acw cag cca cc
MHVL3_f2 tct tct gag ctg act cag gac cc
MHVL4_f1 ctg cct gtg ctg act cag ccc
MHVL4_f2 cag cyt gtg ctg act caa tcr yc
(continued)
20 Maximilian Ruschig et al.
Table 1
(continued)
Primer 5′ to 3′ sequence
MHVL5_f cag sct gtg ctg act cag cc
MHVL6_f aat ttt atg ctg act cag ccc ca
MHVL7/8_f cag rct gtg gtg acy cag gag cc
MHVL9/10_f cag scw gkg ctg act cag cca cc
MHlambdaCL_r tga aca ttc tgt agg ggc cac tg
MHlambdaCL_r2 tga aca ttc cgt agg ggc aac tg
Second antibody gene PCR VH
MHVH1-NcoI_f gtcctcgca cc atg gcc cag gtb cag ctg gtg cag tct gg
MHVH1/7-NcoI_f gtcctcgca cc atg gcc car rts cag ctg gtr car tct gg
MHVH2-NcoI_f gtcctcgca cc atg gcc cag rtc acc ttg aag gag tct gg
JokVH3-NcoI_f1 gtcctcgca cc atg gcc sag gtg cag ctg gtg gag tct gg
JokVH3-NcoI_f2 gtcctcgca cc atg gcc gar gtg cag ctg ktg gag tct gg
MHVH4-NcoI_f1 gtcctcgca cc atg gcc cag gtg car ctg cag gag tcg gg
JokVH4-NcoI_f2 gtcctcgca cc atg gcc cag gtg cag cta car cag tgg gg
JokVH4-NcoI_f3 gtcctcgca cc atg gcc cag ctg cag ctg cag gag tcs gg
MHVH5-NcoI_f gtcctcgca cc atg gcc gar gtg cag ctg gtg cag tct gg
MHVH6-NcoI_f gtcctcgca cc atg gcc cag gta cag ctg cag cag tca gg
MHIgMCH1scFv-HindIII_r gtcctcgca aag ctt tgg ggc gga tgc act
MHIgGCH1scFv-HindIII_r gtcctcgca aag ctt gac cga tgg gcc ctt ggt gga
MHIgECH1scFv-HindIII_r gtcctcgca aag ctt tgg gct ctg tgt gga gg
Second antibody gene PCR kappa
MHVK1-MluI_f1 accgcctcc a cgc gta gac atc cag atg acc cag tct cc
MHVK1-MluI_f2 accgcctcc a cgc gta gmc atc crg wtg acc cag tct cc
MHVK2-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta gat rtt gtg atg acy cag wct cc
MHVK3-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta gaa atw gtg wtg acr cag tct cc
MHVK4-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta gac atc gtg atg acc cag tct cc
MHVK5-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta gaa acg aca ctc acg cag tct cc
MHVK6-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta gaw rtt gtg mtg acw cag tct cc
MHkappaCLscFv-NotI_r accgcctcc gc ggc cgc gaa gac aga tgg tgc agc cac agt
Second antibody gene PCR lambda
MHVL1-MluI_f1 accgcctcc a cgc gta cag tct gtg ctg act cag cca cc
(continued)
Construction of Human Immune and Naive scFv Phage Display Libraries 21
Table 1
(continued)
Primer 5′ to 3′ sequence
MHVL1-MluI_f2 accgcctcc a cgc gta cag tct gtg ytg acg cag ccg cc
MHVL2-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta cag tct gcc ctg act cag cct
MHVL3-MluI_f1 accgcctcc a cgc gta tcc tat gwg ctg acw cag cca cc
MHVL3-MluI_f2 accgcctcc a cgc gta tct tct gag ctg act cag gac cc
MHVL4-MluI_f1 accgcctcc a cgc gta ctg cct gtg ctg act cag ccc
MHVL4-MluI_f2 accgcctcc a cgc gta cag cyt gtg ctg act caa tcr yc
MHVL5-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta cag sct gtg ctg act cag cc
MHVL6-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta aat ttt atg ctg act cag ccc ca
MHVL7/8-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta cag rct gtg gtg acy cag gag cc
MHVL9/10-MluI_f accgcctcc a cgc gta cag scw gkg ctg act cag cca cc
MHLambdaCLscFv-NotI_r accgcctcc gc ggc cgc aga gga sgg ygg gaa cag agt gac
Primer for colony PCR and sequencing
MHLacZ-Pro_f ggctcgtatgttgtgtgg
MHgIII_r c taa agt ttt gtc gtc ttt cc
4. Agarose.
5. TAE-buffer 50×: 2 M TrisHCl, 1 M acetic acid, 0.05 M EDTA
pH 8.
6. NucleoSpin Gel and PCR Clean-up.
2.8 Library 1. 2xYT media pH 7.0: 1.6% (w/v) tryptone, 1% (w/v) yeast
Packaging and scFv extract, 0.5% (w/v) NaCl
Phage Production 2. 2xYT-GA: 2xYT, 100 mM glucose, 100 μg/mL ampicillin
3. M13K07 helper phage for monovalent display (Thermo Fisher
Scientific, Waltham, USA).
4. Hyperphage for oligovalent display (Progen, Heidelberg,
Germany).
5. 2xYT-AK: 2xYT + 100 μg/mL ampicillin +50 μg/mL
kanamycin
6. Sorval Centrifuge RC5B Plus, rotor GS3 and SS34.
7. Polyethylenglycol (PEG) solution: 20% (w/v) PEG 6000,
2.5 M NaCl.
8. Phage dilution buffer: 10 mM TrisHCl pH 7.5, 20 mM NaCl,
2 mM EDTA.
Construction of Human Immune and Naive scFv Phage Display Libraries 23
2.9 Phage Titration 1. 2xYT-GA agar plates: 2xYT-GA + 1.5% (w/v) agar-agar.
3 Methods
3.3 cDNA Synthesis 1. Set up mixture for the first-strand cDNA synthesis:
3.4 First Antibody 1. The cDNA derived from 50–250 ng mRNA or 2–20 μg total
Gene PCR RNA will be used as template to amplify VH and the light
chain. Set up the PCR reactions as follows (30× master mix
for 28 PCR reactions):
(continued)
Construction of Human Immune and Naive scFv Phage Display Libraries 25
2. Divide the master mix in 500 μL for VH, 350 μL for kappa, and
550 μL for lambda.
3. Add to each of the three reactions the corresponding reverse
primers (see also Table 1) as follows (use the IgM primer for
naive antibody gene libraries or the IgG primer for immune
antibody gene libraries. Also, IgE libraries are possible with the
IgE primer set):
Antibody Final
gene Primer Volume concentration
VH MHIgMCH1_r or 20 μL 0.4 μM
MHIgGCH1_r2 or
MHIgECH1_r (10 μM)
Kappa MHkappaCL_r (10 μM) 14 μL 0.4 μM
Lambda MHlambdaCL_r1/ _r2 mix ( 9:1 ) 22 μL 0.4 μM
(10 μM)
95 °C 120 s
95 °C 45 s 30×
55 °C 45 s
72 °C 90 s
72 °C 10 min
26 Maximilian Ruschig et al.
3.5 Second Antibody 1. In the second PCR, the restriction sites for library cloning will
Gene PCR be added. Set up the PCR reactions as follows (30× master mix
for 28 PCR reactions) (see Note 5):
2. Divide the master mix in 1000 μL for VH, 700 μL for kappa,
and 1100 μL for lambda.
3. Add to each of the three reactions the corresponding reverse
primers (see also Table 1) as follows:
Antibody Final
gene Primer Volume concentration
VH MHIgMCH1scFv-HindIII_r or 20 μL 0.2 μM
MHIgGCH1scFv-HindIII_r
(10 μM)
Kappa MHKappaCLscFv-NotI_r2 (10 μM) 14 μL 0.2 μM
Lambda MHLambdaCLscFv-NotI_r (10 μM) 22 μL 0.2 μM
VH 1000 ng
Kappa 700 ng
Lambda 1100 ng
95 °C 60 s
95 °C 45 s 20×
57 °C 45 s
72 °C 60 s
72 °C 10 min
3.6 First Cloning 1. Prepare a plasmid preparation of pHAL52 vector for library
Step – VL cloning (see Note 6).
2. Digest the vector and the VL PCR products. Always perform
additional single-enzyme digestions of the vector in parallel to
check whether the digestion is complete (see also Note 7):
8. Incubate at 16 °C overnight.
9. Inactivate the ligation at 70 °C for 10 min.
10. Purify the ligation using an Amicon Ultra column. Add the
ligation to the column and add water to 500 μL. Centrifuge at
10 min at 14,000× g. Discard the flow through and repeat the
washing with 470 μL (about 30 μL will remain in the column)
step three times.
11. For elution invert the column and elute the remaining DNA
solution in a new cap for 3 min at 1000× g.
12. Add water to 35 μL.
13. Thaw 25 μL electrocompetent E. coli XL1-Blue MRF’ on ice
and mix with the ligation reaction.
14. Transfer the 60 μL mix to a prechilled 0.1 cm cuvette. Dry the
electrode of the cuvette with a tissue paper.
15. Perform a 1.7 kV pulse using an electroporator (see Note 8).
Immediately, add 1 mL 37 °C prewarmed SOC medium care-
fully, transfer the suspension to a 2 mL cap, and shake for 1 h at
600 rpm and 37 °C.
Construction of Human Immune and Naive scFv Phage Display Libraries 29
3.7 Second Cloning 1. Digest the pHAL52-VL repertoire and the VH PCR products.
Step – VH Always perform additional single-enzyme digestions of the
vector in parallel (see also Note 7):
7. Incubate at 16 °C overnight.
8. Inactivate the ligation at 65 °C for 10 min.
9. Purify the ligation using an Amicon Ultra column. Add the
ligation to the column and add water to 500 μL. Centrifuge at
10 min at 14,000× g. Discard the flow through and repeat the
washing with 470 μL (about 30 μL will remain in the column)
step three times.
10. For elution invert the column and elute the remaining DNA
solution in a new cap for 3 min at 1000× g.
11. Add water to 35 μL.
12. Thaw 25 μL electrocompetent E. coli ER2738 on ice and mix
with the ligation reaction (see Note 11).
13. Transfer the 60 μL mix to a prechilled 0.1 cm cuvette. Dry
the electrode of the cuvette with a tissue paper.
14. Perform a 1.8 kV pulse using an electroporator (see Note 8).
Immediately, add 1 mL 37 °C prewarmed SOC medium
(Lucigen) carefully, transfer to a 2 mL cap, and incubate for
1 h at 37 °C with 600 rpm.
15. To determine the amount of transformants, use 10 μL (=10-
2
dilution) of the transformation and perform a dilution series
down to 10-6 dilution. Plate out a 10-6 dilution on 2xYT-
GA agar plates and incubate overnight at 37 °C.
16. Plate out the remaining 990 μL on 2xYT-GA agar “pizza plate”
and incubate overnight at 37 °C.
17. Calculate the amount of transformants (1 × 107–2 × 108
should be reached to be included into the final library). Con-
trol colonies for full size insert by colony PCR (see Subheading
3.8.).
18. Scrape off the colonies on the “pizza plate” with 25 mL 2xYT
medium using a Drigalski spatula (~OD 20–25 = ~2 × 1010
cells/mL). Use 800 μL bacteria solution (~1 × 1010 bacteria)
and 200 μL glycerol for glycerol stocks. Make 5–20 glycerol
stocks per sublibrary, freeze in liquid nitrogen, and store at -
80 °C.
Construction of Human Immune and Naive scFv Phage Display Libraries 31
19. When all transformations are done, thaw one aliquot of each
sublibrary on ice, mix all sublibraries, and make new aliquots
for storage at -80 °C (see also Note 12).
3.8 Colony PCR 1. Choose 10–20 single colonies per transformation. Set up the
10 μL PCR reaction per colony as follows (see Table 1 for
primer sequences):
Le 28. — J’ai failli avoir un chagrin : mon petit linot était sous la
griffe de la chatte, comme j’entrai dans ma chambre. Je l’ai sauvé en
donnant un grand coup de poing à la chatte, qui a lâché prise.
L’oiseau n’a eu que peur, puis il s’est trouvé si content qu’il s’est mis
à chanter de toutes ses forces comme pour me remercier et
m’assurer que la frayeur ne lui avait pas ôté la voix. Un bouvier qui
passe au chemin de Cordes chante aussi menant sa charrette, mais
un air si insouciant, si mou, que j’aime mieux le gazouillement du
linot. Quand je suis seule ici, je me plais à écouter ce qui remue au
dehors, j’ouvre l’oreille à tout bruit : un chant de poule, les branches
tombant, un bourdonnement de mouche, quoi que ce soit
m’intéresse et me donne à penser. Que de fois je me prends à
considérer, à suivre des yeux de tout petits insectes que j’aperçois
dans les feuillets d’un livre ou sur les briques ou sur la table ! Je ne
sais pas leur nom, mais nous sommes en connaissances comme
des passants qui se considèrent le long du chemin. Nous nous
perdons de vue, puis nous nous rencontrons par hasard, et la
rencontre me fait plaisir ; mais les petites bêtes me fuient, car elles
ont peur de moi, quoique je ne leur aie jamais fait mal. C’est
qu’apparemment je suis bien effrayante pour elles. En serait-il de
même au paradis ? Il n’est pas dit qu’Ève y fit jamais peur à rien. Ce
n’est qu’après le péché que la frayeur s’est mise entre les créatures.
Il faut que j’écrive à Philibert.