A broadly reactive ultralong bovine antibody that can determine the integrity of foot-and-mouth disease virus capsids.
Clarke, J.D., Duyvesteyn, H.M.E., Perez-Martin, E., Latisenko, U., Porta, C., Humphreys, K.V., Hay, A.L., Ren, J., Fry, E.E., van den Born, E., Charleston, B., Bonnet-Di Placido, M., Owens, R.J., Stuart, D.I., Hammond, J.A.(2024) J Gen Virol 105
- PubMed: 39422666 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.002032
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
9G6V - PubMed Abstract: 
Foot-and-mouth disease vaccination using inactivated virus is suboptimal, as the icosahedral viral capsids often disassemble into antigenically distinct pentameric units during long-term storage, or exposure to elevated temperature or lowered pH, and thus raise a response that is no longer protective. Furthermore, as foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV)'s seven serotypes are antigenically diverse, cross-protection from a single serotype vaccine is limited, and most existing mouse and bovine antibodies and camelid single-domain heavy chain-only antibodies are serotype-specific. For quality control purposes, there is a real need for pan-serotype antibodies that clearly distinguish between pentamer (12S) and protective intact FMDV capsid. To date, few cross-serotype bovine-derived antibodies have been reported in the literature. We identify a bovine antibody with an ultralong CDR-H3, Ab117, whose structural analysis reveals that it binds to a deep, hydrophobic pocket on the interior surface of the capsid via the CDR-H3. Main-chain and hydrophobic interactions provide broad serotype specificity. ELISA analysis confirms that Ab117 is a novel pan-serotype and conformational epitope-specific 12S reagent, suitable for assessing capsid integrity.
Organizational Affiliation: 
The Division of Structural Biology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, The Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.