Detection of Porcinedeltacoronavirus via a Luminescent Immunoprecipitation System

Research Poster
Patricia Boley
Category: 
Research Scientist
Advisor: 
Scott Kenney
Department: 
Food Animal Health Research Program
Abstract: 

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an enteric viral pathogen circulating in swine herds in the U.S. and worldwide, causing acute diarrhea in nursing piglets(1). How this disease spreads among swine farms remains unknown. Recently we have shown that layer chickens and turkeys are susceptible to the disease, resulting in diarrhea, reduced weight gain and bird-to-bird spread of the disease (2). This suggests that PDCoV may be a threat to the poultry industry and that poultry may be contributing to the spread of the disease. We hypothesize that PDCoV is already present in the commercial poultry industry, to some extent, and may serve as a reservoir for transmission to swine and potentially humans. To test our hypothesis, we developed a serological assay called luminescent immunoprecipitation system (LIPS) (3) to specifically detect PDCoV antibodies. LIPS functions by incubating serum samples with recombinant PDCoV antigen linked to luciferase, followed by immunoprecipitation of total immunoglobulins present in the test serum utilizing  sepharose beads.  Detection of immunoprecipitating luminescent PDCoV antigen indicates antibody positivity within the sample. Validation of the assay will lead to a new commercializable diagnostic tool for confirming PDCoV infections.