Sc from sheep brain in Western blot assays. The epitope specificity of these MAbs was determined, and applicability to immunohistochemical detection of prions was studied. The MAbs generated will be useful tools in the development of TSE immunochemical diagnosis and for research. This is the first report of the development of anti-PrP MAbs by use of autoimmune NZB/NZW F 1 mice as an alternative approach for the generation of PrP-specific MAbs.

The structural glycoprotein E rns (an envelope protein with RNase activity) of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is not well characterized with respect to its antigenic structure and organization.Here, we investigated the antigenic sites on E rns by raising mAbs against the Escherichia coli expressed E rns of CSFV strain Alfort/187 and defined the B-cell epitopes recognized by these antibodies. Eighteen mAbs to E rns were identified and they were classified as either immunoglobulin subclass G1 or G2b. Using an array of overlapping 12-mer peptides, spanning aa 27-227 of E rns , the epitopes for 12 mAbs were mapped to a high resolution of six to eight residues, which cluster in five discrete locations, 31 GIWPEKIC 38 (group I), 65

It is recognized that cattle and other domestic animals can be a reservoir of pathogenic Escherichia coli, including serotype O157:H7. To contain this potential health hazard, the first step is the identification of the carrier animals. For these purposes, a rapid serological screening test, a fluorescence polarization assay (FPA) was developed and results obtained from a randomly selected cattle population as well as cattle immunized with E. coli O157:H7 were compared to those obtained with an indirect enzyme immunoassay (IELISA). To identify pathogenic strains in carrier animals, polymerase chain reactions (PCR) for Shiga-like toxins I and II were implemented using agarose electrophoresis. The sensitivity of the fecal extracted E. coli for Shiga-like toxin I and II was approximately 200 CFU per reaction using multiplex hot-start nested PCR. The sensitivity of the fecal extracted E. coli varied from approximately 5x10(2) to 2.5x10(3) CFU per reaction depending on the commercial kits used. The combination of the serological screening FPA and hot-start nested PCR confirmatory assays provided rapid identification of the pathogen.