Cloning and characterisation of nanobodies against the coat protein of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus

Abstract

Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), in the family Potyviridae, causes an economically important disease. Antibodies are valuable reagents for diagnostic assays to rapidly detect viral infection. Here, we report the isolation of camel-derived variable domains of the heavy chain antibody (VHH, also called nanobodies) directed against the coat protein (CP) of ZYMV. Several nanobodies that specifically recognise ZYMV-CP were identified. The isolated nanobodies showed binding not only to recombinant ZYMV-CP but also to native ZYMV, indicating that these nanobodies can be used in diagnostic tools to detect viral infections.