Production and use of antibodies for the detection of Taura syndrome virus in penaeid shrimp

Abstract

and polyclonal (PAb) antibod~es were produced agalnst the penaeld shnmp virus, Taura syndrome virus (TSV), ~solated from naturally infected Penaeus vannamel from farms in Ecuador, Hawall and Texas The PAbs produced in both chickens and mice were capable of detecting TSV In the hernolymph of shnmp duiiny the acute phase ot ~nfection by a n irnmunoblot assay The MAbs were produced using BALB/cByJ mouse spleen cells fused with non-iinmunoglobulinsecreting SP2/0-Ag-14 mouse n~yeloma cells Three MAbs of different immunoglobul~n lsotypes (IgGy I K IgGy 2 b ~ and IgGy 3 ~) were compared in an lmrnunoblot assay to deterrmne their r e a c t ~v ~t y to hemolymph from TSV-infected s h n m p during the acute and chronlc phases of ~nfection and their crossleactivity if any w ~t h other shrlmp viruses Western blots of purified TSV were used to compare the specificities of the 3 MAbs for the stluctural protelns of the vlrus The MAbs were used to inonitor a laboratory-lnduced TSV infection In juvenile P vannaniel, and they were capable of detecting the virus in the hemolymph of both acute and chromc phase samples The results with chronlc phase hemolymph samples were vanable and indicated the need to develop an lmmunoassay in which the virus In a sample is captured by one antlbody and then detected w ~t h a second a n t ~b o d y The availabil~ty of MAbs with different speclfic~ties for TSV viral proteins and the ability to produce PAbs in chickens w l l make it possible to develop a sensitive captuie assay for rapid detection of the virus In f ~e l d situations