A novel, cost-effective and efficient chicken egg IgY purification procedure

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Biochemistry
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Chicken IgY antibodies are a promising alternative to mammalian antibodies due to phylogenetic distance, cost-effectiveness, and non-invasive isolation.
• Widespread laboratory adoption of IgY is hindered by challenges in achieving high yield and purity cost-effectively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and optimize a rapid, cost-effective method for isolating high-purity chicken IgY from egg yolks.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of this method for routine laboratory use and potential commercial scale-up.

Main Methods:

• Utilized pectin and κ-carrageenan with calcium chloride for delipidation and IgY solubilization.
• Employed ammonium sulfate precipitation to achieve high purity of isolated IgY.
• Developed a protocol yielding approximately 60 mg of IgY with ~80% purity within 5 hours per egg.

Main Results:

• The developed method is highly cost-effective at approximately $5 USD per egg.
• Achieved high yields and purity of chicken IgY, comparable or superior to commercial kits.
• Isolated immunologically active IgY suitable for downstream applications.

Conclusions:

• This optimized technique provides an efficient and economical solution for IgY antibody isolation.
• The method is easily implementable in standard laboratories and scalable for commercial production.
• Facilitates broader application of chicken IgY in immunological and molecular biology research.