title: Screening the whole genome of a pathogen in vivo for individual protective antigens.
abstract: We report the results of a general protocol that was used to screen the whole genome of Chlamydophila abortus, type strain B577 (formerly Chlamydia psittaci strain B577), in a mouse pneumonia model. Genetic immunization was used to functionally test the genes of C. abortus as vaccines in a mouse challenge system. Nine gene fragments were isolated that conferred protection, with five protecting as effectively as the live-vaccine positive control. Bioinformatics approaches were unable to reconstruct isolation of these antigens. These results suggest that pathogen genomes can be functionally screened for vaccine candidate antigens in a mouse model to reveal new classes of vaccine candidate antigens that may have therapeutic efficacy across host species, disease manifestations, and delivery platforms.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, Center for Biomedical Inventions, University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-8573, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stemke-Hale
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaltenboeck
authors.forename: Fred J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: DeGraves
authors.forename: Kathryn F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Sykes
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chun-hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.forename: Stephen Albert
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Johnston
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D023501:Chlamydophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015723:Gene Library; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D014611:Vaccination; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D019444:Vaccines, DNA