Yeast Surface Display in Combination with Fluorescence-activated Cell Sorting Enables the Rapid Isolation of Antibody Fragments Derived from Immunized Chickens

Yeast surface display emerged as a viable tool for the generation of human and murine monoclonal antibodies. This platform technology enables the careful definition of selection conditions, the potential for high-throughput screening, as well as the isolation of antibodies recognizing predefined epitopes. In this study, the applicability of yeast surface display in combination with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) for the isolation of antigen-specific chicken-derived antibodies is demonstrated. To this end, yeast-displayed recombinant antibody libraries from splenic mRNA of chickens immunized with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were constructed as single chain variable fragments (scFv) by overlap extension polymerase chain reaction. A large number of antigen binding scFvs were readily isolated in a convenient screening process. Target-specific scFv-Fc molecules were produced as soluble proteins and more extensively characterized by confirming specificity, thermostability and high affinity. Essentially, we demonstrated the biotechnological applicability of binders directed against both antigens via specific cellular binding for EGFR and in the context of a lateral flow test by utilizing hCG-binding scFvs as capturing antibodies for pregnancy detection. Altogether, the described strategy using yeast surface display expands the repertoire of display methods for the isolation of antibodies resulting from chicken immunization campaigns.