Yeast Display Guided Selection of pH-Dependent Binders

pH-dependent antigen binding has proven useful in engineering next-generation therapeutics specifically via antibody recycling technology. This technology allows for half-life extension, thereby lowering the amount and frequency of dosing of therapeutics. Cell sorting, coupled with display techniques, has been used extensively for the selection of high-affinity binders. Herein, we describe a cell sorting methodology utilizing yeast surface display for selection of binding proteins with strong binding at physiological pH and weak to no binding at acidic pH. This methodology can be readily applied to engineer proteins and/or antibodies that do not have pH-dependent binding or for selection of de novo pH-dependent binders using library-based methods.