Antibody Screening of Expression Libraries

Over the last decade major advances in cloning technology have markedly improved the ability to construct clone libraries expressing foreign proteins and to screen them to identify clones encoding any desired gene product. A number of types of libraries, expression vec- tors, and screening methods have been described but workers in the field of parasitology have generally used antibody screening of cDNA libraries constructed in the bacteriophage Xgtll or its variants. This chapter will largely detail screening methods developed for this sys- tem, an approach that has been successful in identifying clones expres- sing proteins derived from all classes of parasites including protozoa (Plasmodium, Leishmania, Toxoplasma , and Trypanosoma ), helminths (Ascaris, Taenia, and Schistosoma ), and ectoparasites (ticks and mites).