Chicken single-chain variable fragments against the SARS-CoV spike protein

Abstract
The major concern for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is the lack of
diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Using a phage display technology in a chicken system, high-affinity monoclonal antibody fragments against the
SARS-CoV spike protein were characterized. Ten truncated spike protein gene fragments were expressed in Escherichia coli cells. Following the
immunization of chickens with these recombinant spike proteins, two single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody libraries were established
with short or long linkers to contain 5×107 and 9×106 transformants, respectively. After four rounds of panning selection, the scFv antibodies
of randomly chosen clones were demonstrated by Coomassie blue staining, and verified by western blot analysis. In a comparison of nucleotide
sequences with the chicken germline gene, we found that all clones varied in the complementarity-determining regions, that two scFv antibodies
reacted significantly with SARS-CoV-infected Vero cells, and that those two specific scFv antibodies recognized the same region of the spike
protein spanning amino acid residues 750–1000. In conclusion, the results suggest that the chicken scFv phage display system can be a potential
model for mass production of high-affinity antibodies against the SARS-CoV spike protein.