An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for detecting palytoxin-producing bacteria

A competitive ELISA using the intact toxin as a coating antigen for detecting palytoxin was developed. This immunoassay allows palytoxin (PTX) to be determined in the range of 6–250 ng/ml. In sensitivity, this determination is comparable with RIA but is three times inferior to ELISA using monoclonal antibodies. Inhibition experiments using some toxins of marine invertebrates proved the serological specificity of the palytoxin binding to antibodies. Both the indirect and competitive ELISA were used to find PTX-producing bacteria among 420 isolates of sea bacteria. It was found that gram-negative bacteriaAeromonas sp. andVibrio sp. associated with toxic samples of the soft coralPalythoa sp. produced compounds antigenically related to PTX.