Various
mycotoxins widely co-exist in agro-products, and their
combined effects cause toxicity and potential carcinogenicity to humans
and animals. In this work, we developed an economical and sensitive
quantum dots (QDs)/QD microbead (QDs/QB)-based multiplex immunochromatographic
assay (mICA) for the rapid detection of fumonisin B1 (FB1), zearalenone (ZEN), and ochratoxin A (OTA) without the building-up
process of mycotoxin conjugates. QDs and QBs were selected as fluorescent
reporters and conjugated with antimycotoxin monoclonal antibodies
for improving sensitivity. Furthermore, phage-displayed FB1, ZEN, and OTA mimotope peptide-based soluble and monovalent fusions
to maltose-binding protein (MBP) were applied onto the test line of
the mICA as the mimetic coating antigen. Under the optimized conditions,
the visual detection limits (vLODs) of peptide–MBP-based mICA
could be obtained as 0.25 ng/mL for FB1, 3.0 ng/mL for
ZEN, and 0.5 ng/mL for OTA within 10 min. The results for spiked real
sample detection indicate good accuracy, reproducibility, and practicability.
In addition, the proposed mICA was comparable with ultraperformance
liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)
in terms of reliability in detecting FB1, ZEN, and OTA
using natural samples. From the point of promoting commercial production,
these time-saving and low-cost peptide–MBP antigens applied
in ICA might provide promising potential for promoting productivity
and decreasing the cost of production.
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