MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY-BASED ELISAS FOR THE DETECTION OF BACTERIAL-SPORES

Monoclonal antibodies against bacterial spores were used to develop EL ISAs to detect a range of spores. ELISAs utilizing anti-Bacillus spore antibodies detected spores of Bacillus megaterium ATCC 12872, Bacillu s stearothermophilus A TCC 7953, Bacillus subtilis var. globigii and B acillus cereus T. They did not detect Bacillus subtilis A, Bacillus co agulans ATCC 56177 or Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9789. One ELISA util izing anti-Clostridium spore antibodies detected spores of Desulfotoma culum nigrificans ATCC 7946, Clostridium perfringens ATCC 3624 and B. stearothermophilus ATCC 7953, but not spores of Clostridum sporogenes PA3679 or Clostridium botulinum 62A. Whole milk, skim milk, gelatin an d starch all interfered to some degree with the abilities of the assay s to detect spores. Neither centrifugation nor immunomagnetic bead sep aration provided sufficient concentration of spores from the food matr ix to be applicable to the ELISAs developed These results demonstrate the ability to detect a range of spores using monoclonal antibody-base d ELISAs. Such assays may, however, be limited by sensitivity and inte rference from food components.