A peptide/maltose-binding protein fusion protein used to replace the traditional antigen for immunological detection of deoxynivalenol in food and feed

Abstract A deoxynivalenol (DON) epitope clone (D 8 ) was obtained by phage display technology using anti-DON monoclonal antibodies as a target molecule. Subsequently, a DON antigen mimic (D 8 -maltose-binding protein [MBP]) was synthesized by fusing the mimic epitope peptide with MBP. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and urchin-like gold nanoparticle immunochromatographic assay was developed based on D 8 -MBP for detection of DON in maize and wheat. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration, lower detection limit, and linear range of the D 8 -MBP ELISA were 57.98 ± 0.97, 9.83, and 11.32–286.77 ng/mL, respectively. The sensitivity of the D 8 -MBP ELISA was nearly 2.5 times higher than that of traditional ELISA using DON-bovine serum albumin (BSA). The detection threshold of the colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay for D 8 -MBP was 25 ng/mL. Thus, D 8 -MBP could be used to replace the traditional DON-BSA antigen for the immunological detection of DON, permitting low cost, rapid detection of DON.