Description:
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
<jats:p>
The nonhemolytic enterotoxin (Nhe) is one of the two three-component enterotoxins which are responsible for diarrheal food poisoning syndrome caused by
<jats:italic>Bacillus cereus</jats:italic>
. To facilitate the detection of this toxin, consisting of the subunits NheA, NheB, and NheC, a complete set of high-affinity antibodies against each of the three components was established and characterized. A rabbit antiserum specific for the C-terminal part (15 amino acids) of NheC was produced using a respective synthetic peptide coupled to a protein carrier for immunization. Using purified
<jats:italic>B. cereus</jats:italic>
exoprotein preparations as immunogens, one monoclonal antibody against NheA and several antibodies against NheB were obtained. No cross-reactivity with other proteins produced by different strains of
<jats:italic>B. cereus</jats:italic>
was observed. Antibodies against the NheB component were able to neutralize the cytotoxic activity (up to 98%) of Nhe. Based on indirect enzyme immunoassays, the antibodies developed in this study were successfully used in the characterization of the enterotoxic activity of several
<jats:italic>B. cereus</jats:italic>
strains. For the first time, it could be shown that strains carrying the
<jats:italic>nhe</jats:italic>
genes usually express the complete set of the three components, including NheC. However, the amount of toxin produced varies considerably between the different strains.
</jats:p>