Povzetek
 
At the present, the identification of planktonic species in coastal water mainly relies on light microscopy 
observations.  This  kind  of  analyses  is  performed  by  highly  trained  personnel,  requires  lab  equipment  and  long 
processing time. High-throughput and easy-to-perform methods are instead highly needed for routine costal and 
ballast water monitoring.  
Immuno-reagents are widely employed in the medical field for routine diagnostics, where they provide the necessary 
sensitivity and specificity, as for example for cancer subtype characterization. Reagents of similar grade are so far not 
widely available for both diagnostics and basic research of microalgae. We describe the first successful isolation of a 
single-domain  antibody  (nanobody  or  VHH)  from  a  pre-immune  library,  its  engineering  into  application-ready 
reagents, and its inexpensive production as recombinant fusion protein.  
Alexandrium minutum was chosen as a model organism to test the feasibility of the procedure. The procedure foresees 
the panning of a pre-immune phage library of VHHs that was used for in vitro selection against directly the target cells. 
Monoclonal nanobodies specific for A. minutum cells were identified and optimized for recombinant production as 
fusion  with  fluorescent  proteins  in  bacterial  hosts.  Such  fluorescently-tagged  VHHs  were  validated  by 
immunofluorescence and cytofluorimetry for their selectivity by testing unicellular algal species that can be found in 
the same environment of A. minutum. Two nanobodies were found to be highly specific for the target cells, were able 
to bind also cysts of A. minutum and they gave no cross-reaction, even for a not-toxic strain of the closely related A. 
tamutum.  
Different tags can be then fused to the selected nanobodies and used instead of the fluorescent proteins to obtain a 
reagent immediately applicable to further techniques, such as cell Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) or 
biosensor surface functionalization. The newly produced reagents can be applied for direct whole-cell detection in 
seawater, bypassing the need of cell processing required for DNA or RNA diagnostics, and can be used for both alive 
and fixed cells, guaranteeing the possibility to check old samples and to perform confirmatory morphological studies.
    Ključne besede
 
nanobodies;toxic algae;recombinant reagents;naive library;phage display;
    Podatki
 
    
        
            | Jezik: | Angleški jezik | 
        
        
            | Leto izida: | 2018 | 
            
        
        
            | Tipologija: | 1.12 - Objavljeni povzetek znanstvenega prispevka na konferenci | 
            
        
            | Organizacija: | UNG - Univerza v Novi Gorici | 
        
            | UDK: | 577 | 
   
        
        
            | COBISS: | 5303803   | 
        
        
  
        
            | Št. ogledov: | 2979 | 
        
        
            | Št. prenosov: | 0 | 
        
        
            | Ocena: | 0 (0 glasov) | 
        
            | Metapodatki: |                       | 
    
    
    Ostali podatki
 
    
        
        
        
        
        
            | URN: | URN:SI:UNG | 
        
            
        
            | Vrsta dela (COBISS): | Delo ni kategorizirano | 
        
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
            | Strani: | Str. 553 | 
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
           
        
          
        
          
        
          
        
         
        
         
        
        
            | ID: | 10994965 |