A genome level survey of Burkholderia pseudomallei immunome expressed during human infection

Microbes Infect. 2008 Oct;10(12-13):1335-45. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2008.07.034. Epub 2008 Aug 12.

Abstract

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the etiological agent of melioidosis, a severe infectious disease of humans and animals. The role of the bacterium's proteins expressed in vivo during human melioidosis continues to remain an enigma. This study's aim was to identify B. pseudomallei target proteins that elicit the humoral immune response in infected humans. A small insert genomic expression library was constructed and immunoscreened to identify peptides that reacted exclusively with melioidosis patients' sera. Sero-positive clones expressing immunogenic peptides were sequenced and annotated, and shown to represent 109 proteins involved in bacterial cell envelope biogenesis, cell motility and secretion, transcription, amino acid, ion and protein metabolism, energy production, DNA repair and unknown hypothetical proteins. Western blot analysis of three randomly selected full-length immunogenic polypeptides with patients' sera verified the findings of the immunome screening. The patients' humoral immune response to the 109 proteins suggests the induction or significant upregulation of these proteins in vivo during human infection and thus may play a role in the pathogenesis of B. pseudomallei. Identification of B. pseudomallei immunogens has shed new light on the elucidation of the bacterium's pathogenesis mechanism and disease severity. These immunogens can be further evaluated as prophylactic and serodiagnostic candidates as well as drug targets.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Bacterial / blood
  • Antibodies, Bacterial / immunology
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / immunology*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Burkholderia pseudomallei / genetics
  • Burkholderia pseudomallei / immunology
  • Burkholderia pseudomallei / metabolism
  • Burkholderia pseudomallei / pathogenicity*
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  • Genome, Bacterial*
  • Humans
  • Immune Sera / immunology*
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / immunology
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • Antibodies, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Immune Sera
  • Recombinant Proteins