High-level production of Escherichia coli STb heat-stable enterotoxin and quantification by a direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

A convenient and sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the STb heat-stable enterotoxin of Escherichia coli was developed and used to quantify STb production by strains with a high level of expression. Based on an antigenic profile of the secreted form of STb, a synthetic peptide (STb3-27) spanning the major predicted epitope was synthesized, coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin, and used to immunize rabbits. Anti-STb3-27 antibodies were affinity purified on a synthetic peptide-Sepharose 4B column and used in a direct-binding STb ELISA. Based on a highly purified form of toxin as a standard, the ELISA detected as little as 1 to 2 ng of STb from crude culture filtrates. ELISA data revealed that natural STb-producing strains elaborate little STb in defined-medium cultures relative to that elaborated by a recombinant strain harboring a cloned copy of the estB gene. Replacement of the endogenous STb promoter with any of several highly active promoters, including a bacteriophage T7 promoter, a beta-galactosidase promoter, and a tryptophan-beta-galactosidase hybrid (tac) promoter, increased the yield of STb 10- to 20-fold over levels obtained by an E. coli strain harboring the recombinant estB gene. The high level of STb antigen detected by the ELISA correlated with intestinal secretory activity. The combination of a convenient assay and effective hyperproduction of STb will serve as a basis for a large-scale toxin purification strategy.