CROSS-LINKED FILAMENTOUS PHAGE AS AN AFFINITY MATRIX

Filamentous phage can be cross-linked to make a hydrophilic aggregate that is pelleted by low-speed centrifugation. The aggregate is stable at near-neutral pHs, and withstands exposure to the acid buffers (pH d own to 2.2) that are often used as eluents in immunoaffinity purificat ion. If a peptide epitope is genetically fused to a coat protein on th e virion surface! the aggregate serves as an effective affinity matrix for absorbing and affinity-purifying antibodies that bind the peptide . When the peptide epitope is first obtained in this form by selection from large phage display libraries, this ability to fashion an affini ty matrix directly from the selected phage represents a significant st reamlining of research and development. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.