Monoclonal antibodies to Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase and their use for detection and purification of recombinant expression products.

A panel of seven mouse monoclonal antibodies (BG-01-BG-07) was prepared against beta-galactosidase derived from E. coli. The antibodies are beta-galactosidase specific, show no cross-reactivity with other E. coli proteins and can be used for identification and characterization of beta-galactosidase fusion proteins expressed in lambda expression vectors. One of the antibodies allows a simple, one-step isolation of the fusion proteins directly from the crude bacterial lysates using immunoaffinity chromatography.