Development of a recombinant protein-based dot-blot hybridization assay for the detection of antibody to chicken infectious bronchitis virus

Document Type : Short paper

Authors

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

2 Iranian Veterinary Organization, Tehran, Iran

3 National Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NRCGEB), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Nucleocapsid (N) protein of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), one of the viral structural proteins, induces
strong antibody response in natural infection. In this study, a simple, recombinant N protein-based dot-blot
test was developed to serologically examine chicken serum samples for the presence of IBV antibody.
Initially, 72 serum samples were tested for the presence of IBV antibody using a commercial enzyme linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Forty six IBV positive serum samples (group A) produced strong signals
in the dot-blot assay. Seven negative serum samples (group B) produced weak but specific signals using the
dot-blot assay in conjunction with Western blot analysis. The remaining 19 samples (group C) from IBV
negative specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens did not produce visible signals using the dot-blot assay. In
conclusion, the above results suggest that the dot-blot assay is a reliable, sensitive, and specific test for
serological detection of IBV positive chickens.

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