Plant‐derived foot‐and‐mouth disease virus antibodies fused to horseradish peroxidase are efficient diagnostic reagents.

Plant-derived antibodies fused to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) have been developed as efficient diagnostic reagents for detecting foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). The antibodies were produced in Nicotiana benthamiana plants and targeted to the apoplast, resulting in high protein abundance and solubility. The plant-produced HRP-fused antibodies showed superior detection abilities compared to antibodies produced in mammalian CHO cells. They also exhibited high HRP activity and heme content, which are critical for HRP function. The plant-derived HRP-fused antibodies performed well in serodiagnosis assays, demonstrating high sensitivity in detecting FMDV antibodies in serum samples. This platform has potential for the development of reagents for disease detection in clinical settings. [Extracted from the article]