Production and characterization of antibody against deoxyverrucarol

Immunization of rabbits with deoxyverrucarol (DOVE) conjugated to bovine serum albumin resulted in antibodies bound with either tritiated DOVE or diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), but not with T-2 toxin. The affinity of antibodies with DOVE was found to be much higher than with DAS. When [3H] DOVE was used as a marking ligand in the competitive radioimmunoassay, the concentrations causing 50% inhibition of binding radioactivities by unlabeled DOVE, verrucarol, verrucarin A, and 4-monoacetoxyscirpenol were found to be 0.32, 1,070, 9,500, and 10,000 ng per assay, respectively. T-2 toxin, 15-monoacetoxyscirpenol, and deoxynivalenol gave less than 20% inhibition at 10 micrograms per assay. However, when [3H] DAS was used as the marking ligand, the concentrations causing 50% inhibition by DOVE, DAS, and verrucarol were found to be in the 50 to 60 ng per assay range. The antibodies are thus highly specific to DOVE rather than a common trichothecene backbone. The possible use of this antiserum for assay of macrocyclic trichothecenes is discussed.