M03023: Development of immunotests for Specified Risk Material (SRM)
Thursday 9 October 2003
This research project aims to develop a rapid, easy-to-use test for the detection of SRM in meat products.
Background
The major goal of this joint EU/ FSA funded project is to develop a rapid, easy-to-use immunoassay for the detection of SRM in meat products without cross reactivity with other tissues or species.
Research Approach
Bioinformatics will be used as a novel approach to identify short protein sequences unique to the SRM tissues (using in silico digestion). The target SRM tissues investigated primarily will be bovine brain, tonsil and eye tissue. These peptide sequences will be synthesised and the SRM-specific peptides will then be used to raise antibodies that will be incorporated into Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and lateral flow devices. Samples for analysis will be extracted by digestion with appropriate proteolytic enzymes and the released peptides detected using the developed test kits.
An alternative approach will also be evaluated, using protease digestion of the SRM (bovine tonsil and eye tissue), followed by affinity purification of the peptides prior to their use in antibody production and immunoassay development.
The optimised assays will be validated in an inter-laboratory trial, using cooked meat containing known amounts of SRM.