Identification of whole pathogenic cells by monoclonal antibodies generated against a specific peptide from an immunogenic cell wall protein

•A new strategy for the detection of C. albicans without pretreatment is presented.•Monoclonal antibodies were generated against a unique peptide sequence from CaBgl2p.•Resulting monoclonal antibodies bound to both the peptide and the Bgl2p protein.•Detection of single whole C. albicans cells was possible using flow cytometry.•The antibodies distinguished C. albicans from the related yeast Candida glabrata.

We selected the immunogenic cell wall ß-(1,3)-glucosyltransferase Bgl2p from Candida albicans as a target protein for the production of antibodies. We identified a unique peptide sequence in the protein and generated monoclonal anti- C. albicans Bgl2p antibodies, which bound in particular to whole C. albicans cells.