Development and Evaluation of an Immunochromatographic Assay for Screening Listeria spp. in Pork and Milk

Abstract

Rapid immunochromatographic assay (ICA) kits were developed using flagella-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and rabbit polyclonal antibodies for screening Listeria spp. in food. The establishment of different formats, MAb 2B1 as capture antibody and MAb 7A3 or rabbit polyclonal antibodies as detector antibody, was compared. The 2 formats of the ICA kit were shown to have specific reactions with Listeria and no cross-reactivity with any of the non-Listeria including Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteritidis. The detection limits of the ICA kit using the combination of gold-labeled MAb 7A3 and MAb 2B1 showed 1x105 and 1x106 CFU/0.1 mL at 22 and 30℃, respectively. The other format of the ICA kit using the combination of gold-labeled rabbit polyclonal antibodies and MAb 2B1 showed 1x106 CFU/0.1 mL at 22℃ but weak signal at 30 culture. The format utilizing MAb was more sensitive than the one using polyclonal antibodies for capture antibody. Samples contaminated with L. monocytogenes 4b culture (9-10, 5-6, and 1-2 CFU/mL) on pork and pasteurized milk were confirmed as positive results. Current data suggests that this ICA kit is a rapid, simple and effective tool to screen for Listeria spp. in food.