Development and application of monoclonal antibody-based dot-ELISA and colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip for rapid, specific, and sensitive detection of tomato brown rugose fruit virus

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is an emerging tobamovirus that has become a great concern to tomato production industry. Due to the lack of resistant cultivars, precise detection of ToBRFV is essential to prevent the spread of ToBRFV. In this study, we produced highly sensitive and specific monoclonal antibodies against ToBRFV and established dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) and colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip (CGICS)-based methods for ToBRFV detection. These two methods could specifically detect ToBRFV without cross-reaction with seven tested tobamoviruses and three frequently occurring tomato-infecting viruses. Sensitivity analysis showed that the limit of detection of the established dot-ELISA and CGICS methods reached up to 1:6400 and 1:10,000 (w/v, g/mL) dilution of ToBRFV-infected tomato tissue, respectively. Further analyses using field-collected tomato foliar and fruit samples showed that the results obtained by dot-ELISA and CGICS were consistent with those obtained by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The established methods here allow for specific, sensitive, and robust detection of ToBRFV, and will be helpful for precise monitoring and early warning of ToBRFV.