Human Single Fold scFv Libraries I + J (Tomlinson I + J)

Over the past 10 years Greg Winter's lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering (Cambridge, UK) has created a number of artificial libraries of antibodies that can be used to derive binders to almost any target molecule using phage display and selection. These binders can be used for all the same applications as conventional monoclonal antibodies (ELISA, Western blotting, FACS, immunohistochemistry etc) but can be isolated in a fraction of the time and without the need for animal immunisation. To date these so called "naïve" or "single pot" phage-antibody libraries have been used successfully in hundreds of molecular biology labs world-wide to derive highly specific antibody reagents to a wide range of different proteins, peptides or small molecule compounds.

The latest libraries (Tomlinson I and J) that are being distributed by Geneservice Ltd each comprise over 100 million different scFv fragments cloned in an ampicillin resistant phagemid vector and transformed into TG1 E. coli cells (scFv fragments comprise a single polypeptide with the VH and VL domains attached to one another by a flexible Glycine-Serine linker). By carefully following the protocol provided in the product data sheets below, large numbers of phagemids can be produced and used to select specific binders to target molecules that are attached to the surface of a tube or biotinylated and captured by streptavidin coated beads (so called "panning"). After each round of panning, the non-binders are washed away and the phagemids bound to the target molecule/s are eluted and amplified by infection into fresh TG1 cells. After producing new phagemids from the previous round of panning, the process can be repeated. Typically two or three rounds of panning are required to ensure that more than half the different scFvs in the selected population bind to the target molecule. The monoclonal scFvs can then be screened for binding (using a simple ELISA based protocol) and then used for further analysis of the target molecule. Since all the functional scFvs in the Tomlinson I and J libraries bind Proteins A and L, either of these secondary reagents can be used for detection, purification or immobilisation. Alternatively, secondary reagents that bind the attached myc or HIS6 tags can be used, although in our experience it is better to use the Protein A or L reagents.

For more details regarding this library you should read de Wildt et al, Nature Biotech vol 18, 2000 pp 989 - 993

The MRC Centre for Protein Engineering has a very helpful compendium of questions and answers about antibody phage display.