Shrimp farming is an important socioeconomic activity worldwide. Infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) is an important shrimp virus responsible for significant mortality (up to 70%) in Litopenaeus vannamei. We produced recombinant capsid protein (r-IMNV31) and obtained a highly specific antibody, anti-r-IMNV31, which was used in WOAH-approved ELISA and Western blot to detect IMNV. Further, anti-r-IMNV31 was employed in an indigenously developed lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) with gold nanoparticles as a visual label. Using LFA, IMNV could be detected rapidly (20 min) from tissue homogenate with high specificity, reproducibility, and sensitivity (LOD = 103 viral particles). LFA was validated with "gold standard" qRT-PCR using 60 samples with high sensitivity (100%), specificity (86%). A Cohen's kappa coefficient of 0.86 suggested "good agreement" between LFA and qRT-PCR. With a shelf-life of ~ 1 year at ambient temperature, the use of LFA in the on-site detection of IMNV by shrimp farmers will be a reality.
Keywords: Antibody; IMNV; Immunodetection; LFIA; Recombinant capsid protein.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.