Molecular characterization of antibody epitopes of Ehrlichia chaffeensis ankyrin protein 200 and tandem repeat protein 47 and evaluation of synthetic immunodeterminants for serodiagnosis of human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis.

ABSTRACT: Recently, major species-specific antibody epitopes in three immunoreactive tandem repeat proteins (TRPs) of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, TRP32, TRP47, and TRP120, have been identified and molecularly characterized within tandem repeat (TR) regions. In this study, we mapped the major immunodeterminants of the E. chaffeensis 200-kDa ankyrin protein (Ank200) and the minor immunodeterminants in the N- and C-terminal regions of E. chaffeensis TRP47. Major antibody epitopes of Ank200 were localized to four polypeptide regions (18-mer, 20-mer, 20-mer, and 21-mer, respectively) in terminal acidic domains, which reacted with antibodies in sera from human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis (HME) patients and an E. chaffeensis-infected dog. Two minor epitope-containing regions were identified in the N terminus an

SUBMITTER: Luo T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2812101 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature