Major species-specific antibody epitopes of the Ehrlichia chaffeensis p120 and E. canis p140 orthologs in surface-exposed tandem repeat regions.

ABSTRACT: Ehrlichia chaffeensis and E. canis have a small subset of tandem repeat (TR)-containing protein orthologs, including p120/p140, which elicit strong antibody responses. The TR regions of these protein orthologs are immunoreactive, but the molecular characteristics of the p120/p140 epitopes have not been determined. In this study, the immunodeterminants of the E. chaffeensis p120 and E. canis p140 were identified and molecularly defined. Major antibody epitope-containing regions of both p120 and p140 were localized to the TR regions, which reacted strongly by Western immunoblotting with antibodies in sera from E. chaffeensis-infected dogs or patients and E. canis-infected dogs, respectively. Single continuous species-specific major epitopes within the E. chaffeensis p120 and E. canis p140 TR

SUBMITTER: Luo T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2708412 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature