Selection of Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) specific recombinant monoclonal phage display antibodies for prey detection analysis

PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e51440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051440. Epub 2012 Dec 14.

Abstract

Several recombinant antibodies against the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), one of the most important pests in agriculture worldwide, were selected for the first time from a commercial phage display library of human scFv antibodies. The specificity and sensitivity of the selected recombinant antibodies were compared with that of a rabbit polyclonal serum raised in parallel using a wide range of arthropod species as controls. The selected recombinant monoclonal antibodies had a similar or greater specificity when compared with classical monoclonal antibodies. The selected recombinant antibodies were successfully used to detect the target antigen in the gut of predators and the scFv antibodies were sequenced and compared. These results demonstrate the potential for recombinant scFv antibodies to be used as an alternative to the classical monoclonal antibodies or even molecular probes in the post-mortem analysis studies of generalist predators.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / chemistry*
  • Antigens / metabolism
  • Ceratitis capitata / immunology*
  • Ceratitis capitata / metabolism*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
  • Female
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptide Library
  • Plant Diseases
  • Predatory Behavior
  • Rabbits
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Single-Chain Antibodies / chemistry

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antigens
  • Peptide Library
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Single-Chain Antibodies

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) (AGL2006-13346-C02-01). CM was recipient of a PhD grant from the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.