Annals of the Entomological Society of America (1998) 91, 677-684

F. Zeng, S.B. Ramaswamy and S. Pruett (1998)
Monoclonal antibodies specific to tobacco budworm and bollworm eggs
Annals of the Entomological Society of America 91 (5), 677-684
Abstract: Two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F), and bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), eggs were established. These MAbs were tested against all tobacco budworm or bollworm life stages by enzyme-linked immunosobent assay (ELISA). The MAb for tobacco budworm is specific only to budworm egg and adult female antigens, and the MAb for bollworm is specific only to bollworm egg antigen. Eggs of other lepidopterous species tested by ELISA did not react to the species-specific bollworm or budworm MAbs. Eggs from feral insect populations were tested to determine specificity of MAbs, and no cross-reactivity was observed between bollworm and budworm eggs. This highly species-specific characteristic of MAb for bollworm or budworrri eggs can be used to distinguish each of these 2 important pests and, thus, help in insecticide selection decisions and insecticide resistance management.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Sonny B. Ramaswamy

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Helicoverpa zea
	Heliothis virescens