Goat warble fly infestation (GWFI) is a subcutaneous
myiasis caused by larvae of Przhevalskiana silenus, an insect belonging to the order Diptera. The diagnosis of GWFI is challenging in the early larval instars (L1 and L2) as they are occult under the skin and hair coat causing prolonged economic loss in form of meat and hide damage. This necessitates early diagnosis for disease control at herd level and its prophylactic management to prevent economic losses. Hypodermins, a class of
serine proteases from Hypoderminae subfamily have been used as serodiagnostic
antigens for the past four decades for diagnosis of warble fly
myiasis. In this study,the immunodominant
antigen Hypodermin C (HyC) from P. silenus has been recombinantly expressed in E. coli and immunogenic characterisation of expressed
protein was done. The
protein shows hallmark residues in conserved
cysteine and catalytic triad typical of
serine proteases along with similar profile of immunoreactivity towards Hypoderminae infestation. The present study reports an optimised indirect-ELISA based on recombinant HyC derived from P. silenus for early diagnosis of GWFI. The optimised indirect ELISA provides a sensitive and specific immunodiagnostic for mass surveillance of the GWFI with diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of 96% and 100%, respectively and not showing any cross reactivity against other important parasitic and
bacterial diseases of goats. This study presents the first report of indirect ELISA based on recombinant
Hypodermin C antigen derived from P. silenus for the serosurveillance of goat warble fly disease.