Identification and Characterization of α-Actinin 1 of Histomonas meleagridis and Its Potential Vaccine Candidates against Histomonosis

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 14; p. 2330
• Main Authors: Liu, Dandan, Chen, Chen, Chen, Qiaoguang, Wang, Shuang, Li, Zaifan, Rong, Jie, Zhang, Yuming, Hou, Zhaofeng, Tao, Jianping, Xu, Jinjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17.07.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Antigens; Bacteria; Cell adhesion & migration; Cloning; Cytoskeleton; Enzymes; Histomonas meleagridis; histomonosis; immune protection; immunolocalization; Infections; Manufacturers; Mortality; Parasites; Pathogens; Phylogenetics; Poultry; prokaryotic expression; Proteins; Vaccines; Virulence; α-actinin 1; United States > US; China; histomonosis; α-actinin 1; immune protection; prokaryotic expression; immunolocalization; Histomonas meleagridis
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani13142330

is a protozoan parasite that causes histomonosis in gallinaceous birds such as turkeys and chickens. Since the banning and restricted usage of effective drugs such as nitarsone, 80-100% morbidity and mortality occur in turkeys and 20-30% mortality in chickens. New ideas are needed to resolve the re-emergence of histomonosis in poultry. In this study, the α-actinin encoding gene from was cloned. The 1839-bp gene encoding 612 amnio acids showed close phylogenetic relationships with and . It was then inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector pET28a(+) and induced with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside. A 73 kDa recombinant protein rHmα-actinin 1 was obtained and purified with a Ni-NTA chromatography column. rHmα-actinin 1 was recognized by mouse anti-rHmα-actinin 1 polyclonal antibody, mouse anti-rHmα-actinin 1 monoclonal antibody, and rehabilitation sera from infected chickens. Native α-actinin 1 in the total proteins of can also be detected with mouse anti-rHmα-actinin monoclonal antibody. Immunolocalization assays showed that Hmα-actinin 1 was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of virulent histomonads JSYZ-D9 and in the peripheral regions (near the plasma membrane) of attenuated histomonads JSYZ-D195. Based on experiment, when chickens were subcutaneously immunized with rHmα-actinin 1 at 5 and 12 days old and then challenged with at 19 days old, rHmα-actinin 1 reduced the lesion scores 12 days after infection (31 days old) and increased the body weight gain during the challenged period (19-31 days old). Furthermore, it also strengthened the cellular and humoral immune responses 7 days after the second immunization (19 days old). In conclusion, Hmα-actinin 1 could be used as a candidate antigen to develop vaccines against chicken histomonosis.