Phage display systems

[Keith Jolley]

We are considering using a phage display system for antibody epitope
mapping studies and are considering which kit to purchase.  If anyone
has experience with either Invitrogen's FliTrx system or NEB's Ph.D.
kits I would be interested in hearing of any potential pitfalls or
shortcomings as well as any successes.  The main concern is with the
12-mer library kits, in that the stated complexity of the systems is
2x10^8 (Invitrogen) to 2x10^9 (NEB) independent primary clones,
compared to a total 20^12 (4x10^15) possible combinations.  Clearly
only a tiny proportion of dodecapeptides will be represented in these
systems.  NEB claim that "by spreading the equivalent diversity of a
7-mer library over a window of 12 residues permits affinity selection
of peptide ligands for targets requiring more than 7 ligand residues
for tight binding".  Does anyone's experience bear this out?
	I would also be interested in hearing of experiences with
other similar systems.
	
			Thank you,
				Keith Jolley

-- 
Dr. Keith Jolley
Dept. of Molecular Microbiology
Southampton General Hospital, UK
Tel: 01703-798895  Fax: 01703-774316