Abstract
A stable hybridoma cell line secreting monoclonal antibody (MAB) to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was produced by fusing spleen cells of immunized mice and mouse myeloma cell line P3X63Ag8.653. MAB from hybridoma clone 1-7B4 produced antibody of the IgG2b subclass. MAB 1-7B4 reacted to five isolates of TSWV, but did not react to 10 other viruses tested. The immunoreactivity of the MAB was examined in a protein-A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a double-antibody sandwich ELISA, and a dot-immunobinding assay. Isolated nucleocapsid protein reacted with the MAB in ELISA, but the envelope-associated proteins did not. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the production and utilization of a MAB to detect an enveloped plant virus.