Selection and characterization of phage miniantibodies to actins of different origin

Single-chain miniantibodies (scFv's) to actin were obtained by the phage display method. A naive combinatorial phage display library of murine scFv's (containing 2x10(8) independent recombinant clones) was used to select miniantibodies. After three rounds of selection two clones producing miniantibodies to chicken smooth muscle actin with affinity constants of 1.4x10(7) and 1.2x10(6) M(-1) were chosen. The isolated miniantibodies could specifically detect various plant and animal actins.