Detection of Tomato Ringspot Virus with Monoclonal Antibodies. C. A. Powell, University of Florida, IFAS, Agricultural Research and Education Center, Fort Pierce 34954. . Plant Dis. 74:904-907. Accepted for publication 14 May 1990. Copyright 1990 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-74-0904.

Monoclonal antibodies were made to an apple isolate of tomato ringspot virus (TmRSV-A) by fusion of splenocytes from immunized mice with NS-1 myeloma cells. Most IgG class monoclonal antibodies reacted strongly with homologous antigen in direct or indirect ELISA. The reactivity of most IgM class monoclonal antibodies was considerably less. Both rabbit and mouse polyclonal antibodies to TmRSV-A generally reacted better than the monoclonal antibodies. Most of the monoclonal antibodies that reacted strongly with TmRSV-A also reacted strongly with isolates of TmRSV from blueberry, geranium, peach, and cymbidium orchid but not with the Chickadee strain of TmRSV. Sensitivity of the monoclonal antibodies for detecting TmRSV-A could be increased by mixing selected antibodies. Optimum sensitivity for detecting TmRSV-A was attained by using a two-animal-species indirect ELISA in which the plate was coated with rabbit antibody and a mixture of two monoclonal antibodies was used as the detecting (second) antibody.