A Combinatorial System for Cloning and Expressing the Catalytic Antibody Repertoire in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Hybridoma monoclonal antibody technology is one of the fundamental techniques for the study of biological macromolecules (Lerner 1984). Monoclonal antibodies are used for important applications such as clinical diagnosis, immunofluorescence, cell sorting, gene product analysis, and many other techniques. Recently, a new technology involving catalytic monoclonal antibodies has appeared. This quickly evolving field combines the programmable specificity of antibody binding with chemical catalysis (Lerner and Benkovic 1988). Several of the reactions catalyzed with antibodies are listed in Figure 1.