Monoclonal antibodies recognising fimbriae F107 (F18) of an oedema disease causing strain of Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli isolated from experimentally induced oedema disease in pigs was used for the isolation and purification of F107 fimbriae. The reference strain was probed using membrane DNA hybridisation for the presence of fed A gene. F107 fimbriae were purified on FPLC and purity was checked on HPLC and SDS PAGE. A protein with major subunit of 18.9 kDa was used for Mabs preparation. Mabs reacted with 18.9 kDa protein previously classified as a major fimbrial subunit and were able to detect F107 fimbriae in immunoelectron microscopy on the surface of the strains 107/86 and 8872. Other strains used in this study did not express any fimbriae. Western blot analysis and F107 ELISA confirmed, that Mabs react with 18.9 kDa subunit whereas strains passaged many times in laboratory did not express F107 fimbriae.