Development of a Highly Sensitive and Specific ic-ELISA and Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Diacetoxyscirpenol

To monitor the contamination of a type A trichothecene, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), one monoclonal antibody (mAb) 8A9 with high affinity and specificity was prepared in the present study. The mAb 8A9 showed a 50% inhibition concentration (IC₅₀) of 0.31 μg/L, which is of the highest affinity reported to date. An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) and lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) based on mAb 8A9 were developed and exhibited limits of detection as low as 0.65 μg/kg and 100 μg/kg in rice samples, respectively. The molecular recognition mechanism of mAb 8A9 to DAS was explored by molecular docking. The results showed that the hydrophobic amino acids of mAb 8A9 interacted with DAS by forming hydrogen bonds and a pi-sigma bond, which lead to a highly specific recognition of DAS. In summary, we produced one mAb, developed ELISA and LFIA for DAS detection in rice with significantly sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and precision.