Taihe Hospital, Hubei Medical University, Shiyan, Hubei Province, China.
Can J Microbiol. 2011 Apr;57(4):287-94. doi: 10.1139/w11-007.
Yersinia pestis is a bacterium that is transmitted between fleas, which have a body temperature of 26 °C, and mammalian hosts, which have a body temperature of 37 °C. To adapt to the temperature shift, phenotype variations, including virulence, occur. In this study, an antigen microarray including 218 proteins of Y. pestis was used to evaluate antibody responses in a pooled plague serum that was unadsorbed, adsorbed by Y. pestis cultivated at 26 °C, or adsorbed by Y. pestis cultivated at 26 and 37 °C to identify protein expression changes during the temperature shift. We identified 12 proteins as being expressed at 37 °C but not at 26 °C, or expressed at significantly higher levels at 37 °C than at 26 °C. The antibodies against 7 proteins in the serum adsorbed by Y. pestis cultivated at 26 and 37 °C remained positive, suggesting that they were not expressed on the surface of Y. pestis in LB broth in vitro or specifically expressed in vivo. This study proved that protein microarray and antibody profiling comprise a promising technique for monitoring gene expression at the protein level and for better understanding pathogenicity, to find new vaccine targets against plague.
鼠疫耶尔森菌是一种在跳蚤（体温为 26°C）和哺乳动物宿主（体温为 37°C）之间传播的细菌。为了适应温度变化，会发生表型变异，包括毒力。在这项研究中，使用包含 218 种鼠疫耶尔森菌蛋白的抗原微阵列来评估未吸附、吸附于 26°C 培养的鼠疫耶尔森菌或吸附于 26 和 37°C 培养的鼠疫耶尔森菌的 pooled 鼠疫血清中的抗体反应，以鉴定在温度转换过程中蛋白质表达的变化。我们鉴定出 12 种在 37°C 表达而不在 26°C 表达，或在 37°C 表达水平明显高于 26°C 的蛋白质。在血清中吸附于 26 和 37°C 培养的鼠疫耶尔森菌的 7 种蛋白质的抗体仍呈阳性，这表明它们在 LB 肉汤中体外未表达于鼠疫耶尔森菌表面，或者在体内特异性表达。这项研究证明，蛋白质微阵列和抗体分析组成了一种很有前途的技术，可用于监测蛋白质水平的基因表达，更好地了解致病性，以寻找针对鼠疫的新疫苗靶点。
