title: Neorickettsia risticii surface-exposed proteins: proteomics identification, recognition by naturally-infected horses, and strain variations.
abstract: Neorickettsia risticii is the Gram-negative, obligate, and intracellular bacterial pathogen responsible for Potomac horse fever (PHF): an important acute systemic disease of horses. N. risticii surface proteins, critical for immune recognition, have not been thoroughly characterized. In this paper, we identified the 51-kDa antigen (P51) as a major surface-exposed outer membrane protein of older and contemporary strains of N. risticii through mass spectrometry of streptavidin-purified biotinylated surface-labeled proteins. Western blot analysis of sera from naturally-infected horses demonstrated universal and strong recognition of recombinant P51 over other Neorickettsia recombinant proteins. Comparisons of amino acid sequences for predicted secondary structures of P51, as well as Neorickettsia surface proteins 2 (Nsp2) and 3 (Nsp3) among N. risticii strains from horses with PHF during a 26-year period throughout the United States revealed that the majority of variations among strains were concentrated in regions predicted to be external loops of their β-barrel structures. Large insertions or deletions occurred within a tandem-repeat region in Ssa3. These data demonstrate patterns of geographical association for P51 and temporal associations for Nsp2, Nsp3, and Ssa3, indicating evolutionary trends for these Neorickettsia surface antigen genes. This study showed N. risticii surface protein population dynamics, providing groundwork for designing immunodiagnostic targets for PHF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 1925 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. rikihisa.1@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Kathryn E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pastenkos
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moesta
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rikihisa
mesh_terms: D000711:Anaplasmataceae Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000662:veterinary; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D006736:Horses; D041103:Neorickettsia risticii / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D040901:Proteomics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins