Anti-idiotypic VHH phage display-mediated immuno-PCR for ultrasensitive determination of mycotoxin zearalenone in cereals

• Anti-idiotypic VHH phage can be used as non-toxin substitute for ZEN detection.
• We developed an anti-idiotypic VHH based phage-ELISA for detection of ZEN in cereals.
• We developed an ultrasensitive and specific PD-IPCR for ZEN determination in cereals.
• PD-IPCR improved the LOD by 12-fold than phage ELISA results.
• Compared with phage ELISA results, PD-IPCR expanded the linear range considerably.

Immunoassay is frequently used to analyze mycotoxin contamination. However, the introduction of mycotoxins or their conjugates in conventional immunoassay threatens the safety of individuals and the environment. The variable domain of heavy-chain antibodies (VHHs) can be used as alternative compounds to produce anti-idiotypic antibodies, which work as non-toxic surrogate reagents in immunoassay. In this work, anti-zearalenone (ZEN) monoclonal antibody (mAb) was used as the target for biopanning anti-idiotypic VHH from a naïve alpaca VHH phage display library. After four panning cycles, one anti-idiotypic VHH phage clone (Z1) was isolated and the Z1 based phage ELISA for ZEN showed a half inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.25±0.02 ng/mL, a linear range of 0.11–0.55 ng/mL, and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.08 ng/mL. Furthermore, the phage particles of Z1 were also applied to immuno-polymerase chain reaction (PD-IPCR), which supplied both the detection antigens and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) templates. Compared with that of phage ELISA, the LOD of Z1 based PD-IPCR was 12-fold improved, with a detection limit of 6.5 pg/mL and a linear range of 0.01–100 ng/mL. The proposed method was then validated with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Results showed the reliability of PD-IPCR for the determination of ZEN in cereal samples. The use of anti-idiotypic VHH phage as non-toxic surrogate and signal-amplification function of PCR make it a promising method for actual ZEN analysis in cereals.

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