An improved yeast transformation method for the generation of very large human antibody libraries

Antibody library selection by yeast display technology is an efficient and highly sensitive method to identify binders to target antigens. This powerful selection tool, however, is often hampered by the typically modest size of yeast libraries (∼107) due to the limited yeast transformation efficiency, and the full potential of the yeast display technology for antibody discovery and engineering can only be realized if it can be coupled with a mean to generate very large yeast libraries. We describe here a yeast transformation method by electroporation that allows for the efficient generation of large antibody libraries up to 1010 in size. Multiple components and conditions including CaCl2, MgCl2, sucrose, sorbitol, lithium acetate, dithiothreitol, electroporation voltage, DNA input and cell volume have been tested to identify the best combination. By applying this developed protocol, we have constructed a 1.4 × 1010 human spleen antibody library essentially in 1 day with a transformation efficiency of 1–1.5 × 108 transformants/µg vector DNA. Taken together, we have developed a highly efficient yeast transformation method that enables the generation of very large and productive human antibody libraries for antibody discovery, and we are now routinely making 109 libraries in a day for antibody engineering purposes.