title: Expression and comparative analysis of genes encoding outer membrane proteins LipL21, LipL32 and OmpL1 in epidemic leptospires.
abstract: Leptospiral outer membrane proteins (OMPs) are highly conserved in different species, and play an essential role in the development of new immunoprotection and serodiagnosis strategies. The genes encoding LipL21, LipL32 and OmpL1 were cloned from the complete genome sequence of Leptospira interrogans serovar lai strain Lai and expressed in vitro. Sequence comparison analysis revealed that the three genes were highly conserved among distinct epidemic leptospires, including three major epidemic species Leptospira interrogans, Leptospira borgpetersenii and Leptospira weilii, in China. Immunoblot analysis was further performed to scrutinize 15 epidemic Leptospira reference strains using the antisera of the recombinant OMPs. Both immunoblot assay and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that these three OMPs were conservatively expressed in pathogenic L. interrogans strains and other pathogenic leptospires. Additionally, the use of these recombinant OMPs as antigens in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for serodiagnosis of leptospirosis was evaluated. The recombinant LipL32 and OmpL1 proteins showed a high degree of ELISA reactivity with sera from patients infected with L. interrogans strain Lai and other pathogenic leptospires. These results may contribute to the identification of candidates for broad-range vaccines and immunodiagnostic antigens in further research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200025, China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yi-Xuan
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bao-Yu
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yi-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Xiu-Gao
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Guo-Ping
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiao-Kui
authors.initials: XK
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D007919:Leptospira / Q000235:genetics*; D007921:Leptospira interrogans / Q000235:genetics; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000276:immunology; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; C406589:LipL32 protein, Leptospira; D008074:Lipoproteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C081904:ompL1 protein, Leptospira