Broad specificity immunoassay for detection of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins through engineering of a single chain variable fragment with mutagenesis and screening

Abstract The cultivation of genetically modified crops (GMCs) has greatly increased worldwide. Given the fact that over 10 Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins have been applied in GMCs, there is a need to develop an efficient and economically affordable detection method that simultaneously screen such compounds with similar structures in crops and foodstuff. Here we described an approach using a site-directed mutagenesis that enhances the generic specificity of single chain variable fragment (scFv). After three rounds of panning against mixed antigen (Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1B, Cry1C and Cry1F) from the constructed mutagenesis library, one mutant showed greater ability to bind to a range of Cry toxins. The phage mutant, named D9, was cloned into pET26b expression vector, and then induced and purified. The mutant D9 was used to develop an indirect competitive immunoassay that sucessfully recognizes five targeted Cry1 toxins with a working range from 0.20 to 2.22 μg mL −1 . The recoveries of five Cry toxins from spiked rice samples ranged from 86.67% to 96.67%, with a coefficient of variation less than 8%. The results suggest that the immunoassay based on a scFv is a promising approach for detection of Cry toxins with a broad specificity.