AUTHOR=Gu Xiaobin , Gu Jiang , Ren Yongjun , Zheng Youle , Yang Guangyou , Zhou Xuan , Xie Yue 

TITLE=Evaluation of an Indirect ELISA Using Recombinant Arginine Kinase for Serodiagnosis of Psoroptes ovis var. cuniculi Infestation in Rabbits

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00411

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2019.00411

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Psoroptes ovis</italic> var. <italic>cuniculi</italic> is a common ectoparasite of the wild and domestic rabbits worldwide, which causes significant economic losses in commercial rabbit breeding. In China, the diagnosis of rabbits infested with <italic>P. ovis</italic> var. <italic>cuniculi</italic> currently relies on detection of clinical signs and <italic>Psoroptes</italic> mites in skin scrapings by microscopy examination. However, this method is not very efficient in detection of the low mite loads and/or sub-clinical infections. In the present study, we cloned and expressed an arginine kinase homolog gene from <italic>P. ovis</italic> var. <italic>cuniculi</italic> (Poc-AK) and used its recombinant protein rPoc-AK to develop an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) method for diagnosis of <italic>P. ovis</italic> var. <italic>cuniculi</italic> infestation in rabbits. The results showed that the rPoc-AK protein was ~61 kDa and had no signal peptide. The rPoc-AK-based iELISA achieved a 94.4% sensitivity and a 88.2% specificity, and was able to detect <italic>P. ovis</italic> var. <italic>cuniculi</italic> infection as early as the 1st week post-infection, prior to the appearance of clinical signs. Further field study showed 24.94% (66.33/266) clinically normal rabbits were seropositive with the highest and lowest seropositive rates for California (35.71%) and Belgian (15.14%), respectively. These results suggested that the rPoc-AK has potential as a diagnostic antigen for early <italic>P. ovis</italic> var. <italic>cuniculi</italic> infestation in rabbits.</p>