Characterization of a monoclonal antibody to Spiroplasma eriocheiris and identification of a motif expressed by the pathogen

Tremor disease (TD) has been found to be a lethal epidemic in Chinese mitten crab during recent years. A new species of spiroplasma, Spiroplasma eriocheiris (S. eriocheiris), was identified as the pathogen causing TD. In order to acquire appropriate biological tools for characterizing this newly discovered pathogen, we developed a new S. eriocheiris specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) 6H7. The antibody showed high binding affinity to S. eriocheiris (Ka = 6.25 × 108 M−1) and it bound to the adhesin-like protein (ALP41) of S. eriocheiris in Western blot analysis. Screening of a commercially available 12-mer linear peptide library by using 6H7 as bait led to isolation of a consensus sequence (FQGINHYNQMER). The clone displaying this sequence exhibited a significant, dose-dependent binding to 6H7 and inhibited the binding of S. eriocheiris to 6H7, suggesting a similar epitope between the sequence and S. eriocheiris. Homology searches and multiple sequence alignments indicated moderate homology between the consensus peptides and the ALP of S. eriocheiris. Thus, an internal image of 6H7 binding epitope might be buried in ALP41 of S. eriocheiris. In conclusion, 6H7 is a promising mAb to identify S. eriocheiris and the consensus sequence can be used in future research on the characterization of S. eriocheiris and its pathogenesis.