Expression of Antibodies in Neurospora

The filamentous fungi, owing to their ability to secrete high levels of proteins, are attractive organisms for the expression and secretion of heterologous proteins of commercial and medical value. Secretion is a key element in their attraction, for secretion enables proper folding and processing of complex proteins and facilitates their purification. Proper folding and processing, simplified purification, and inexpensive culturing will translate into less expensive production. We have demonstrated secretion and processing of an enzymatically active mammalian protein, bovine preprochymosin, from "Neurospora crassa." In the proposed Phase I effort, we will test the feasibility of expressing in "Neurospora" a single chain antibody fragment (scFv) of established medical value and determine the ability of the recombinant scFv to recognize tumor cell surface antigen.