Patent ID: 7259022

Claim:
A method for producing a motif-specific, context-independent antibody that specifically binds a recurring, modified motif in a plurality of peptides or proteins within an organism in which it recurs, said method comprising the steps of: (a) constructing a degenerate peptide library comprising (i) a fixed target motif comprising two to six invariant amino acids including at least one modified amino acid, and, optionally, one or more degenerate amino acid position(s), and (ii) a plurality of degenerate amino acids flanking said motif; (b) immunizing a host with said peptide library to raise a context-independent antibody specific for all or part of said target motif; and (c) isolating antisera from said host, and purifying the motif-specific, context-independent antibody of step (b) from said antisera, said antibody specifically binding said motif in a plurality of peptides or proteins within an organism in which it recurs.