The West Indian manatee ( Trichechus manatus manatus), a subspecies that inhabits coastal areas of Central and South America, has been listed as a vulnerable species because of the rapid decline in its population. Commercially available immunologic reagents specific for sirenians are lacking, limiting the development of sensitive immunodiagnostic assays. We observed the affinity of the microbial proteins A and G to T. m. manatus immunoglobulins. Manatee serum pools were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the affinity intensity followed by western blotting to confirm the specific binding of proteins A and G to immunoglobulins. The ELISA demonstrated maximum affinity of both proteins until the serum dilution of 1:12,800, with a similar affinity for both proteins. Because both A and G proteins exhibited affinity to manatee immunoglobulins, they can be used to develop sensitive immunodiagnostic assays for this species, contributing to manatee conversation procedures.
Keywords: Antibodies; ELISA; immunodiagnosis; manatees; sirenians.