Monoclonal antibodies specific for the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein complex (LHC): Detection of conserved antigenic determinants in LHC from different species

Monoclonal antibodies have been raised against the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein complex (LHC) of pea and characterised using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (with purified LHC or intact thylokoids) or immunoblotting using chloroplast proteins transferred from SDS-PAGE gels. Several clones showed strong binding to the two major polypeptides of pea LHC, even after trypsin or proteinase K treatment. The two antibodies with the most efficient binding to pea LHC were shown to cross-react with polypeptides from green algae and higher plants; indicating sequential similarities and the presence of several closely related polypeptides between phylogenetically distant species.