Pests Immunoassays

Pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, are widely used in agriculture, and the potential for these residues to accumulate in food has led to concern for human safety. Pesticide residues may enter food animals from environmental sources or from treated or contaminated feeds. Immunoassay development for pesticides has had major impacts for pesticide registrations, analysis of residues in foods, monitoring environmental contamination, determination of occupational exposure, and integration of pest management. 

Coumarins also have a C6-C3 skeleton, but they possess an oxygen heterocycle as part of the C3-unit. There are numerous coumarins, many of which play a role in disease and pest resistance, as well as UV-tolerance. The coumarin umbelliferone (1.21) is popular in enzyme assays. Umbelliferone esters can be used as a substrate for non-specific esterase enzyme assays and in fluorescent immunoassays (Jacks and Kircher, 1967). In order to quantify the enzyme activity of the popular reporter gene P-glucuronidase (GUS), plant extracts can be incubated with 4-methylumbelliferyl P-D-glucuronide (4-MUG 1.22), which upon hydrolysis... 

Johnson et al. (1973) first proposed the feasibility of application of an immunoassay method for the detection of insect pest contamination in food commodities. In their studies, crude extracts of individual insects such as D. melanogaster (eggs and adults), Plodia interpunctella (larvae), T. confusum (larvae), Ephestia elutella (larvae), S. oryzae (adults), and S. granarius (adults) served as antigens for the development of appropriate antibodies in rabbits. Subsequently, immunochemical tests comprising immunodiffusion and passive hemagglutination were conducted with insect extract samples to detect the pest. 

J.M. Van Emon, J.N. Seiber, B.D. Hammock, Applications of Immunoassay to Paraquat and other Pesticides , in Bioregulators for Pest Control, ed. P.A. Hedin, ACS Symposium Series 76, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 307-316,1985. 

Diagnostic products based on antibodies will provide valuable information to guide many crop disease management decisions (18, 19). Some of the more important uses of immunoassays in detecting plant pathogens and pests include ... 

The use of the information generated with immunoassays is the critical factor in determining the ultimate utility of this technology in agriculture. Crop management decisions which may be influenced by specific information on pest and pathogen levels include ... 

Certification of seeds and other propagating materials as being disease-free or disease-tested is another short term application of immunoassays. Commercial products or services employing antibody-based tests are available for detecting viruses in seed potatoes and lettuce seed. These assays are performed primarily in central laboratories, but simplification of assay formats and procedures will permit seed crops to be monitored more closely throughout the production cycle to assure that elite stock remains pathogen or pest-free. 

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