One important advantage arises from the phylogenetic distance and genetic background that distinguishes birds from mammals. This type of antibody has distinctive properties which can be exploited in various ways in research, diagnostics and therapy. IgY is the major low molecular weight immunoglobulin in oviparous animals. The immunization of chickens provides an attractive alternative, , to using mammals as hosts for antibody production. Unfortunately, their involvement in the immune response and immune-mediated pathologies along with a high degree of conservation among mammals can, however, make them susceptible to unwanted interactions with conserved proteins, which can in turn hamper their use in certain approaches. In most cases mammalian antibodies are perfectly adequate. Moreover, their specificities and biological effects can now be readily manipulated using standard molecular biological techniques. This is primarily because they have familiar properties and their use is well-established in many applications. This review presents comprehensive information on the generation, purification, modification and applications of polyclonal and monoclonal IgY antibodies.Īntibodies are likely to remain the affinity molecules of choice in a wide variety of analytical, biochemical, and medical approaches. The recombinant approach is well suited to circumvent any limitations of polyclonal antibodies. Moreover, cloning and selecting the immune repertoire from avian organisms is highly efficient, yielding antigen-specific antibody fragments. Recombinant IgY, however, can be generated from mammalian monoclonal antibodies which makes it possible to further exploit the advantageous properties of the IgY scaffold. The polyclonal nature of IgY antibodies has limited their use since avian hybridoma techniques are not well established.
These advantages include: the one-step purification of antibodies from egg yolk in large amounts facilitates having a virtually continuous supply the epitope spectrum of avian antibodies potentially grants access to novel specificities the broad absence of cross-reactivity with mammalian epitopes avoids assay interference and improves the performance of immunological techniques. Due to their phylogenetic distance, mechanisms of immune diversification and the way in which they deposit IgY immunoglobulin in the egg yolk, chickens provide a number of advantages compared to mammals as hosts for immunization. The generation and use of avian antibodies is of increasing interest in a wide variety of applications within the life sciences.
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