Detection of Mold by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

To develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting mold, we produced anti-mold polyclonal antibodies by immunizing extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) of Aspergillus flavus or Penicillium citrinum in rabbits subcutaneously. Using the purified antibody (Ab) and Ab-HRP conjugate, a sandwich ELISA for EPS was established. The standard curve of the ELISA showed the detection limit for P citrinum EPS to be $0.003{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/ml$. The cross-reactivities of the anti-P citrinum EPS Ab toward components of P citrinum such as EPS, liquid, and solid culture mycelium were 100, 10.5, and 0.58%, respectively, and those toward components of A. flavus such as EPS, liquid and solid culture mycelium, and spore were 300, 0.67, 0.29, and 0%, respectively. When the reactivities toward culture broths of 59 mold strains were tested by the sandwich ELISA, most of the Aspergillus (16 of 18) and Penicillium (14 of 16) strains along with one of the two Cladosporium strains gave positive signals in the culture broths even when diluted 1,000 fold, while the rest of species such as Fusarium, Absidia, Alternaria, and Candida gave negative signals. When the water extracts of 30 corn samples were analyzed by the sandwich ELISA, the EPS in the com could be detected in the concentration range of $0.1-1.6{\;}\mu\textrm{g}/g$.