IMMUNOLOGICAL COMPARISONS OF POLYCLONAL ANTIBODIES PRODUCED AGAINST THE RECOMBINANT COAT PROTEIN AND VIRAL PARTICLES FOR DETECTING EGYPTIAN BANANA- CUCUMBER MOSAIC CUCUMOVIRUS

There are many immunological methods available for viruses detection. These methods depend on the quality and purity of antibody used in immunodetection. Availability of purified antigen, free from plant debris, will lead to produce highly purified antibody. The purified antibody in immunodetection methods will increase the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for virus detection. Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) has worldwide distribution and wide host range. Therefore the presence of highly purified antibody will help us in rapid CMV-immunodetection. The main goal in this study is to compare serologically the sensitivity and accuracy of serological methods by using two antibodies. The first, raised against the recombinant expressed coat protein (Ab/CP) and the second produced against the viral particals (Ab/V) of Ban-CMV. ELISA, Dot blot analysis and Western blotting were used as immunodetection methods. In the three serological methods, both IgGs were able to recognize the presence of Ban-CMV in the tested samples at a dilution I mg/ml. However, Western and dot blot analysis were faster in detection of Ban-CMV than ELISA using Ab/CP.