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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Nanoparticle-based bio-barcode assay for the detection of bluetongue virus.

Journal:
Journal of virological methods
Year:
2011
Authors:
Yin, Hui-qiong et al.
Affiliation:
Institute of Transfusion Medicine · China

Plain-English summary

Researchers have developed a very sensitive test to detect a specific protein from the bluetongue virus (BTV), which affects sheep. This test uses tiny gold particles and special antibodies to capture the virus protein, allowing for a much more accurate measurement than traditional methods. The new test can detect extremely low levels of the virus, making it seven times more sensitive than older tests. This method not only works well for bluetongue virus in sheep but could also be adapted to detect other proteins in the future. Overall, the test shows great promise for improving how we identify this virus in animals.

Abstract

The ultrasensitive bio-barcode amplification assay (BCA) technique was developed for the specific detection of the outer-core protein VP7 of bluetongue virus (BTV). The target antigen VP7 was first captured by gold nanoparticles (GNPs) coated with polyclonal antibodies. Magnetic microparticles (MMP) coated with VP7 monoclonal antibody were then added to form a sandwich immuno-complex. After the immuno-complex was formed, signal DNA annealed to DNA strands covalently bound to the GNPs were released by heating and characterized by PCR and real-time fluorescence PCR. A detection limit of 0.1fg/ml was measured for purified VP7, seven orders of magnitude more sensitive than that of conventional antigen capture ELISA. The BCA demonstrated the same enhanced sensitivity for detecting BTV in serum samples from sheep. In the following work it is demonstrated that this assay is a highly sensitive method for the detection of BTV proteins that could be adapted to measure other proteins.

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Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21619893/