Mapping antigenic epitopes of potato virus Y with antibodies affinity-purified by using overlapping synthetic peptides

Synthetic, overlapping peptides representing the entire amino acid sequence of potato virus Y (PVY) coat protein were used to affinity-purify antibodies from polyclonal antisera to PVY. In testing the binding of the purified antibodies to PVY particles, antigenic epitopes were identified. The N-terminal and C-terminal regions of the PVY coat protein were found to contain most of the antigenic epitopes. The results will facilitate the development of detection methods for PVY based on synthetic peptides.