Patent ID: 8114648

Claim:
A method for producing an antibody that specifically binds to a polypeptide having one or more unnatural amino acids, wherein said method comprises: providing a translation system with at least one nucleic acid comprising at least one selector codon, wherein the nucleic acid encodes the polypeptide, and wherein the translation system translates the selector codon with the unnatural amino acid with a fidelity greater than about 75%; providing the translation system with an orthogonal tRNA (OtRNA), wherein the OtRNA recognizes the at least one selector codon; providing the translation system with an orthogonal aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (ORS), wherein the ORS preferentially aminoacylates the OtRNA with the one or more unnatural amino acids in the translation system, and wherein a K m of the ORS for the unnatural amino acid is lower than for any naturally occurring amino acid and wherein a k cat of the ORS for aminoacylation of the OtRNA with the unnatural amino acid is higher than aminoacylation of the OtRNA with any naturally occurring amino acid; providing the translation system with the one or more unnatural amino acids, thereby producing in the translation system said polypeptide comprising the one or more unnatural amino acids; and, immunizing a subject with a sufficient amount of said polypeptide to produce said antibody.