Identification of common surface antigens among Babesia bigemina isolates by using monoclonal antibodies

A group of monoclonal antibodies (MAb) was used to immunochemically characterize Babesia bigemina surface components. Two surface reactive MAb by an IFAT test were subsequently shown to bind to epitopes on the external surface of the parasite plasma membrane as evidenced by immunoelectron microscopy. Parasite components with relative sizes of 68, 62, 60, 58, 56, 54, 51, 49, 48, 47, 43, 36 kDa were identified with the group of MAb in at least 6 geographically different B. bigemina isolates. The antigenic components were demonstrated to be species-specific and apparently predominant. Both polyclonal antibodies (immune bovine serum) and highly diluted MAb specifically reacted with such bands producing a strong signal in Western blots.