There is an ongoing need for standardized, easily renewable immunoreagents for detecting African horsesickness virus (AHSV). Two phage displayed single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies, selected from a semi-synthetic chicken antibody library, were used to develop double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (DAS-ELISAs) to detect AHSV. In the DAS-ELISAs, the scFv previously selected with directly immobilized AHSV-3 functioned as a serotype-specific reagent that recognized only AHSV-3. In contrast, the one selected with AHSV-8 captured by IgG against AHSV-3 recognized all nine AHSV serotypes but not the Bryanston strain of equine encephalosis virus. Serving as evidence for its serogroup-specificity. These two scFvs can help to rapidly confirm the presence of AHSV while additional serotype-specific scFvs may simplify AHSV serotyping.
African horse sickness virus/*isolation & purification ; Animals ; Antibodies, Immobilized ; Antibodies, Viral/*immunology ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Chickens ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods/*veterinary ; Immunoglobulin G ; *Peptide Library ; Serologic Tests/methods/veterinary ; Serotyping ; Single-Chain Antibodies/*immunology ; Vero Cells