Fundamentals of Hapten-protein Conjugate Synthesis to Obtain High-quality Antibodies for Analysis of Food and Environmental Contaminants

Developing immunoassays for detecting natural and synthetic contaminants in foods and environments have raised great attention. Thus, tailoring the structure of the conjugates via hapten design has been regarded as an original and efficient way to obtain a high-quality antibody. To promote the development of this kind of antibodies and immunoassays, we first introduced three historic stages of hapten development: singlehapten (investigation) stage, multiple-hapten (screening) stage and rational hapten (design) stage. And then, we reviewed the current hapten fundamentals relative to its precise design including basic concepts, hapten compositions (target residue, linker/arm and active group for conjugation), and general rules of hapten design which may have effect on inducing antibody features. We especially highlighted the current new knowledge about the effect of hapten “foot” moiety and immune-active position because they contribute to antibody's specificity or/and affinity. Finally, the main applications, challenges and prospects of antibodies developed based on hapten-protein conjugates were discussed. It is rational that, with the maturation of the haptenantibody interaction theory, more and more novel antibodies against organic contaminants in foods and environments can be developed and widely applied in the future. Keywords: Antibody design, hapten fundamentals, immunoassay, food safety, environmental contaminants, “foot” moiety, immune-active position.