ANTIGENIC FEATURES OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH-DISEASE VIRUS SEROTYPE ASIA1 AS REVEALED BY MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES AND NEUTRALIZATION-ESCAPE MUTANTS

Neutralizable antigenic sites/epitopes of serotype Asia1 foot-and-mout h disease virus (strain IND63/72) were identified using monoclonal ant ibodies (mabs) and their neutralization-escape mutants. Relative affin ity/reactivity of the mabs for viral (both native and trypsin-cleaved) and subviral antigens in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) sh owed dominance of trypsin-sensitive and conformation-dependent neutral izable antigenic sites. Characterization of neutralization escape muta nts identified at least four independent trypsin-sensitive neutralizab le antigenic sites on Asia1 FMD virus. One site was identified by mabs B3, 1A, 24, 2A, 40 and 63, second site by mabs 34 and 81, third site by mab 72 and fourth site by mab 89. The reaction profile of the mabs with selected field isolates in ELISA identified four different neutra lization epitopes within the site B3/1A/24/2A/40/63. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.