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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #47487
Title: BOVINE VIRAL DIARRHEA SEROLOGICAL DIAGNOSTIC REAGENTS PREPARED FROM BACTERIALLY EXPRESSED RECOMBINANT PROTEINS

Author
item KWANG JIMMY - 5438-01-35
item Bolin, Steven - Steve
item Littledike, E

Submitted to: Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/5/1994
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is a very common infectious disease in cattle and causes the U.S. cattle industry to lose hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Currently, virus neutralization (VN) is the standard serological test for BVD virus (BVDV) infection. Other diagnostic tests, such as whole-virus immunoassay or fluorescent antibody assay, are also used. All of these tests are time consuming and require specialized tissue culture equipment. Consequently, these procedures are often impractical for screening a large number of samples. In this study, molecular biological techniques have been used to produce recombinant BVDV proteins. These recombinant proteins were incorporated into an immunoassay and compared with the standard VN test for the serodiagnosis of BVD in cattle. The results showed that the new immunoassay proved to be a simple, economic, and effective tool for diagnosis of BVD in large and small cattle herds.

Technical Abstract: Three recombinant (gp48, gp25, and p80) enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed for detection of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV). The use of BVDV gp48 or gp25 recombinant proteins in an ELISA has proved to be an effective tool for diagnosis of BVDV infection in large cattle herds. The recombinant p80 ELISA could be useful to differentiate among sera obtained from cattle vaccinated with killed vaccine, modified-live vaccine, or naturally infected. When a herd was vaccinated with killed virus vaccine and tested with p80 ELISA, the expected results would be minimal or negative. Any strong positive results would indicate that a source of natural infection must be present in the herd. By combining these recombinant ELISA results, one could not only diagnosis the BVDV infection, but also control and monitor BVD infection in the herd.