performed as previously described.22 (link) In
brief, Maxisorp plates (Nunc) were coated with 50 ng of spike protein
(Sinobiological SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) spike S1 + S2 ECD-HIS recombinant
protein (catalog #40589-V08B1)) per well. Plates were incubated overnight
at 4 °C. Plates were blocked with Blocker casein in phosphate
buffered saline (PBS) (ThermoFisher) for 1 h at room temperature (RT).
Hamster serum collected on day 14 post exposure was diluted 1:400
in Blocker casein in PBS and incubated for 1 h at RT. Serum from a
subset of positive qRT-PCR animals was titrated via a 2× serial
dilution to obtain antibody titers of positive animals. Secondary
goat antihamster IgG Fc (horseradish peroxidase-conjugated, Abcam)
spike-specific antibodies were used for detection and visualized with
a KPL TMB 2-component peroxidase substrate kit (SeraCare, 5120-0047).
The reaction was stopped with KPL stop solution (SeraCare), and the
plates were read at 450 nm. The threshold for positivity was calculated
as the average plus 3 × the standard deviation of prebleed serum
from three animals as a negative control.