The widespread use of Cry proteins in transgenic plants for insect control has raised concerns about the environment and food safety in the public. An effective detection method for introduced Cry proteins is of significance for environmental risk assessment and product quality control. This paper describes a novel phage mediated immuno-PCR (iPCR) for the ultrasensitive determination of Cry proteins based on nanobodies. Three nanobodies against Cry1Ac protein were obtained from a naı̈ve phage displayed nanobody library without animal immunization process and were applied to the iPCR assay for Cry1Ac. The phage-mediated iPCR for Cry1Ac based on nanobodies showed a dynamic range of 0.001–100 ng/mL and a limit detection of 0.1 pg/mL. Specific measurement of this established method was performed by testing cross-reativity of other Cry1Ac analogues, and the result showed negligible cross-reactivity with other test Cry proteins (Cry1Ab, Cry1F, Cry3B). Furthermore, the phage-mediated iPCR based on nanobody should be easily applicable to the detection of many other Cry proteins.Keywords: Cry1Ac protein; immunoassay; nanobody; ommuno-PCR;

•Nanobody is applied in detecting AFP in stead of traditional IgG antibody.•IPCR technology based on nanobody couple with high sesitivity, broad linear range.•The principles of AFP assays are applicable to detection other cancer biomarker.Immunoassay for cancer biomarkers plays an important role in cancer prevention and early diagnosis. To the development of immunoassay, the quality and stability of applied antibody is one of the key points to obtain reliability and high sensitivity for immunoassay. The main purpose of this study was to develop a novel immunoassay for ultrasensitive detection of cancer biomarker alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) based on nanobody against AFP. Two nanobodies which bind to AFP were selected from a phage display nanobody library by biopanning strategy. The prepared nanobodies are clonable, thermally stable and applied in both sandwich enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA) and immuno-PCR assay for ultrasensitive detection of AFP. The limit detection of sandwich ELISA setup with optimized nanobodies was 0.48 ng mL−1, and the half of saturation concentration (SC50) value was 6.68±0.56 ng mL−1. These nanobodies were also used to develop an immuno-PCR assay for ultrasensitive detection of AFP, its limit detection values was 0.005 ng mL−1, and the linear range was 0.01–10,000 ng mL−1. These established immunoassays based on nanobodies were highly specific to AFP and with negligible cross reactivity with other tested caner biomarkers. Furthermore, this novel concept of nanobodies mediated immunoassay may provide potential applications in a general method for the ultrasensitive detection of various cancer biomarkers.

•Anti-idiotypic VHH phage can be used as non-toxin substitute for ZEN detection.•We developed an anti-idiotypic VHH based phage-ELISA for detection of ZEN in cereals.•We developed an ultrasensitive and specific PD-IPCR for ZEN determination in cereals.•PD-IPCR improved the LOD by 12-fold than phage ELISA results.•Compared with phage ELISA results, PD-IPCR expanded the linear range considerably.Immunoassay is frequently used to analyze mycotoxin contamination. However, the introduction of mycotoxins or their conjugates in conventional immunoassay threatens the safety of individuals and the environment. The variable domain of heavy-chain antibodies (VHHs) can be used as alternative compounds to produce anti-idiotypic antibodies, which work as non-toxic surrogate reagents in immunoassay. In this work, anti-zearalenone (ZEN) monoclonal antibody (mAb) was used as the target for biopanning anti-idiotypic VHH from a naïve alpaca VHH phage display library. After four panning cycles, one anti-idiotypic VHH phage clone (Z1) was isolated and the Z1 based phage ELISA for ZEN showed a half inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.25±0.02 ng/mL, a linear range of 0.11–0.55 ng/mL, and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.08 ng/mL. Furthermore, the phage particles of Z1 were also applied to immuno-polymerase chain reaction (PD-IPCR), which supplied both the detection antigens and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) templates. Compared with that of phage ELISA, the LOD of Z1 based PD-IPCR was 12-fold improved, with a detection limit of 6.5 pg/mL and a linear range of 0.01–100 ng/mL. The proposed method was then validated with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Results showed the reliability of PD-IPCR for the determination of ZEN in cereal samples. The use of anti-idiotypic VHH phage as non-toxic surrogate and signal-amplification function of PCR make it a promising method for actual ZEN analysis in cereals.

•Nanobodies that bind to anti-DON antibody were isolated from a naïve library.•The nanobody-based ELISA was 18-fold more sensitive than conventional ELISA.•The selected nanobody was thermal stable and can be produced in large scale.•The molecular mechanism of DON antigen mimicry by nanobody was described.In this study, using mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) as a model hapten, we developed a nanobody-based environmental friendly immunoassay for sensitive detection of DON. Two nanobodies (N-28 and N-31) which bind to anti-DON monoclonal antibody (MAb) were isolated from a naive phage display library. These nanobodies are clonable, thermally stable and mycotoxin-free products and can be served as coating antigen mimetics in heterologous immunoassay. The half inhibition concentration (IC50) of the immunoassay developed with N-28 and N-31 was 8.77 ± 0.41 ng mL−1 and 19.97 ± 0.84 ng mL−1, respectively, which were 18- and 8-fold more sensitive than the conventional coating antigen (DON-BSA) based immunoassay. In order to better understand the molecular mechanism of antigen mimicry by nanobody, the 3D structure of “nanobody (N-28) - anti-DON MAb” complex was presented and verified by molecular modeling and alanine-scanning mutagenesis. The results showed that hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interaction formed between Thr 102 – Ser 106 of N-28 and CDR H3 residues of anti-DON antibody may contribute to their binding. This novel concept of enhancing sensitivity of immunoassay for DON based on nanobody may provide potential applications in a general method for immunoassay of various food chemical contaminants.

Here, on the basis of mimotope of small analytes, we demonstrated a new approach for development of sensitive and environmentally friendly immunoassay for toxic small analytes based on the peptide-MBP fusion protein. In this work, using mycotoxin fumonisin B1 (FB1) as a model hapten, phage displayed peptide (mimotope) that binds to the anti-FB1 antibody were selected by biopanning from a 12-mer peptide library. The DNA coding for the sequence of peptide was cloned into Escherichia coli ER2738 as a fusion protein with a maltose binding protein (MBP). The prepared peptide-MBP fusion protein are “clonable” homogeneous and FB1-free products and can be used as a coating antigen in the immunoassay. The half inhibition concentration of the quantitative immunoassay setup with fusion protein (F1-MBP and F15-MBP) was 2.15 ± 0.13 ng/mL and 1.26 ± 0.08 ng/mL, respectively. The fusion protein (F1-MBP) was also used to develop a qualitative Elispot assay with a cutoff level of 2.5 ng/mL, which was 10-fold more sensitive than that measured for chemically synthesized FB1–BSA conjugates based Elispot immunoassay. The peptide-MBP fusion protein not only can be prepared reproducibly as homogeneous and FB1-free products in a large-scale but also can contribute to the development of a highly sensitive immunoassay for analyzing FB1. Furthermore, the novel concept might provide potential applications to a general method for the immunoassay of various toxic small molecules.

The quality of mycotoxin conjugates is essential to the development of reliability of immunoassays for mycotoxins. However, conventional mycotoxin conjugates are usually synthesized by chemical methods, which are harmful to the environment and yield unwanted cross-reactions. In this study, using ochratoxin A (OTA) as a model system, a selected OTA mimotope (phage-displayed peptide) that specifically binds to anti-OTA antibody was expressed as soluble and monovalent fusions to maltose binding protein (MBP). These prepared fusion proteins can serve as a mimetic coating antigen in both a quantitative chemiluminescent enzyme-linked immunoassay (CLEIA) and a qualitative dot immunoassay for OTA. One of the prepared mimetic coating antigen (L12-206-MBP)-based CLEIAs exhibited a half-inhibition concentration (IC50) of 0.82 ng/mL and a working range of 0.30–2.17 ng/mL, which resemble those of the conventional OTA–OVA conjugate-based immunoassay. The dot immunoassay developed with both the OTA–OVA conjugate and the mimetics showed identical visual cutoff values of 5 ng/mL. The mimetic coating antigen proposed here is an OTA-free product and can be prepared reproducibly as a homogeneous product and facilitates standardization of immunoassays for the mycotoxin OTA.

With the advantage of replacing mycotoxins and their conjugates, mimotopes have been applied to immunoassays, the most common of which were seleted from random phage displayed peptide libraries. However, these mimotopes were limited by the diversities of the peptide libraries. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that a variety of mimotopes can be obtained by constructing a second-generation peptide library. Using mycotoxin ochratoxin A as a model system, a dodecapeptide mimotope was isolated after panning the second-generation peptide library. The half inhibition concentration of the chemiluminescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay setup with this mimotope was 0.04 ng/mL, and the linear range was 0.006–0.245 ng/mL. The mimotope was also used to develop a qualitative dipstick assay with a cutoff level of 1 ng/mL. The method not only presents a high sensitivity but also contributes to the development of mimotope-based assays for mycotoxins avoiding the need of synthesizing toxic mycotoxin conjugates.

Anti-fumonisin B1 (FB1) McAb 1D11 was used as the target for biopanning from a phage random loop-constrained heptapeptide library. After three cycles of panning, seven phages with three mimotope peptides were selected to mimic the binding of FB1 to 1D11. After the identification of phage ELISA, the phage clone that showed the best linear range of detection was chosen for further research. One peptide with the inserted peptide sequence of the phage was synthetized, named CT-452. An indirect competitive ELISA (peptide ELISA) for detecting FB1 was established using the CT-452-bovine serum albumin conjugate as coating antigen. The linear range of the inhibition curve was 1.77–20.73 ng/mL. The half inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 6.06 ng/mL, and the limit of detection was 1.18 ng/mL. This method was compared with conventional indirect ELISA (commercial ELISA kit) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the results showed the reliability of the peptide ELISA for the determination of FB1 in cereal samples. The relationship between the CT-452 and FB1 standard concentrations in peptide ELISA was evaluated. The results indicated that synthetic peptide CT-452 can replace the FB1 standard to establish an immunoassay free of FB1.