SELECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF SINGLE-DOMAIN ANTIBODY FRAGMENTS FROMCAMEL HEAVY-CHAIN ANTIBODIES

Functional heavy-chain gamma-immunoglobulins lacking light chains occu r naturally in Camelidae, We now show the feasibility of immunising a dromedary cloning the repertoire of the variable domains of its heavy- chain antibodies and panning, leading to the successful identification of minimum sized antigen binders, The recombinant binders are express ed web in E. coli, extremely stable, highly soluble, and react specifi cally and with high affinity to the antigens, This approach can be vie wed as a general route to obtain small binders with favourable charact eristics and valuable perspectives as modular building blocks to manuf acture multispecific or multifunctional chimaeric proteins. (C) 1997 F ederation of European Biochemical Societies.