Return to search

Construction and Characterization of a Single-Chain Variable Fragment Antibody Library against Fusobacterium nucleatum

Dental plaque forms sequentially, with Fusobacterium nucleatum facilitating the adhesion of pathogenic late colonizers. We hypothesize that a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody library will enable the identification of F. nucleatum adhesins and help elucidate the molecular mechanisms of coaggregation between F. nucleatum and other bacteria. A 4X10^8 clones scFv phage display library was created using spleen RNA from a mouse immunized with F. nucleatum. The library was enriched by biopanning against F. nucleatum 6 times and 292 individual clones tested by ELISA reacted strongly to F. nucleatum. Sixty-two of those clones inhibited F. nucleatum coaggregation with Streptococcus sanguinus. Analysis of select clones revealed differences in coaggregation inhibition, recognition of outer membrane proteins, and BstOI restriction pattern. DNA sequencing showed 6 unique scFvs and of them 3 strongly inhibited interaction with 5 Streptococcus species. These scFvs recognize the outer membrane autotransporter protein RadD (Fn1526), as determined by mass spectrometry. / Farhan Khan placed second in the International Association for Dental Research/Unilever
Hatton Competition in the Senior Basic Science Research Category representing Canada, while presenting the research contained in this dissertation. This international competition took place during the 90th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research in Iguaçu Falls, Brazil in June 2012.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:NSHD.ca#10222/15184
Date26 July 2012
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish

Page generated in 0.0021 seconds