A Partially Protective Clone from Cowdria ruminantium Identified by Using a Salmonella Vaccine Delivery System

• Published in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 849; no. 1; pp. 247 - 252
• Main Authors: BRAYTON, K. A., VAN DER WALT, M., VOGEL, S. W., ALLSOPP, B. A.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 29.06.1998
• Subjects: Animals; Bacterial Vaccines; Cloning, Molecular; Cowdria ruminantium; Ehrlichia ruminantium - genetics; Ehrlichia ruminantium - immunology; Female; Heartwater Disease - immunology; Heartwater Disease - prevention & control; Mice; Peptide Library; Salmonella; Time Factors; Vaccines, Synthetic
• ISBN: 1573311421; 9781573311427
• ISSN: 0077-8923; 1749-6632
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb11055.x

A strategy has been developed to screen the Cowdria genome, using a Salmonella vaccine delivery system, to identify genes that code for protection-stimulating proteins. We have cloned mini-libraries of Cowdria into this Salmonella system, used the recombinant bacteria to immunize outbred mice, and then challenged them after two weeks with a lethal dose of Cowdria. When one of these mini-libraries was tested in a group of 5 mice, one mouse lived much longer than the others. The experiment was repeated with each of the clones from the mini-library being tested individually in 10 mice, and one mouse survived the challenge. This clone has been tested repeatedly in larger groups of mice and is proven to protect 14% of outbred mice against a lethal Cowdria challenge.