Production and characterization of a panel of monoclonal antibodies for the identification of antigens of babesia bovis

A Panel of monoclonal antibodies was produced and characterised by an indir ect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting with the aim of identifying antigens of Babesi a bovis. After fusion, the resultant hybrids were selected by the IFAT, clo ned, maintained in culture in vitro, and cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. Ten clones producing monoclonal antibodies were found to react against the entire merozoites, three reacted on the surface of the merozoites, and one clone reacted against the polar region of the merozoites. All monoclonal an tibodies reacted in ELISA, with the optical density varying from 0.368 to 0 .502 (cut off = 0.022). The bands recognized by the monoclonal antibodies i n Western blotting had molecular weights ranging from 162 to 19 kDa. Four c lones recognized a single band of 73 kDa, and another four did not react in Western blotting.