Reconstruction of Full-length scFv Libraries with the Extended Range Targeted Sequencing Method

Abstract

Single chain fragment variable (scFv) phage display libraries of randomly paired VH-VL antibody domains are a powerful and widely adopted tool for the discovery of antibodies of a desired specificity. Characterization of full length VH-VL constructs using synthetic long read assemblies of short read next-generation sequencing data has emerged as a powerful approach to identify antibody candidates with greater speed and sensitivity than classical screening methods. Here we introduce a new version of the synthetic long read approach, which we denote the Extended Range Targeted Sequencing method. We apply the method to demonstrate accurate and high throughput analysis of full-length VH-VL constructs from a commercial scFv combinatorial display library.