Cloning, expression, and characterization of the Fab fragment of the anti-lysozyme antibody HyHEL-5

Hybridoma cDNAs encoding the individual chains of the Fab fragment of the well characterized murine monoclonal antibody HyHEL-5 were cloned and sequenced. The recombinant Fab fragment was produced by expressing each chain in a separate Escherichia coli pET vector, denaturing inclusion bodies and co-refolding. Characterization of the purified Fab by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and N-terminal amino acid sequencing demonstrated proper processing of the individual chains. The association of the recombinant Fab fragment with hen egg lysozyme and the avian epitope variant bobwhite quail lysozyme was found by isothermal titration calorimetry to have energetics very similar to that of the HyHEL-5 IgG. Heterologous expression of the HyHEL-5 Fab fragment opens the way to structure/function studies in this well-known system.