Comparison of neutralizing antigens of recent isolates of infections bursal disease virus.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to a local turkey isolate (QT-1) of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were produced to identify the virus-specific neutralizing proteins. Radioimmunoprecipitation assays showed that all the MAbs were specific for major viral protein, VP2. Two of the MAbs neutralized the local turkey and chicken isolates along with a reference strain belonging to serotype 1 but not the reference strain of serotype 2. The reactivities of the neutralizing MAbs against two reference strains and some recent field strains of IBDV isolated in the province of Québec were studied by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus neutralization tests. The variations in the reactivities of the MAbs observed suggest differences in the neutralizing epitopes of the different isolates. Competitive binding assay using the MAbs revealed the presence of a third epitope involved in the neutralization of IBDV belonging to serotype 1.