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Application of Phage Display in Selecting Tomato spotted wilt virus-Specific Single-Chain Antibodies (scFvs) for Sensitive Diagnosis in ELISA

First, third, fourth, and eighth authors: Laboratory for Monoclonal Antibodies, Wageningen Agricultural University, P.O. Box 8123, 6700 ES Wageningen, The Netherlands; second, sixth, and seventh authors: Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen Agricultural University, Binnenhaven 11, 6709 PD Wageningen, The Netherlands; and fifth author: Institute of Applied Microbiology, University for Agriculture, Muthgasse 18, A-1190 Vienna

A panel of recombinant single-chain antibodies (scFvs) against structural proteins of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was retrieved from a human combinatorial scFv antibody library using the novel phage display technique. After subcloning the encoding DNA sequences in the expression vector pSKAP/S, which allowed the scFvs to be expressed as alkaline phosphatase fusion proteins, 17 different scFv antibodies were obtained. Of these, 12 scFvs were directed against the nucleoprotein (N) and 5, putatively, against the glycoproteins (G1 and G2). Five of the N-specific antibodies cross-reacted with two other tospoviruses (Tomato chlorotic spot virus and Groundnut ringspot virus), but none recognized the more distantly related tospoviruses Impatiens necrotic spot virus, Watermelon silverleaf mottle virus, Iris yellow spot virus, or Physalis severe mottle virus. The successful use of one of the antibodies as coating and detection reagent in a double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed the potential of the phage display system in obtaining antibodies for routine TSWV diagnosis.