Molecular Identification and Bioinformatics Analysis of Moonlighting Proteins as Possible Antigenic Targets.

BACKGROUND

Diseases of veterinary importance, such as bovine Anaplasmosis, cause significant economic losses. Due to this, the study of various proteins of the causal agent has focused on surface proteins. However, a vaccine for this disease is not yet available. To this end, in this work, moonlighting proteins (MLPs) are presented as an alternative approach for the design of immunogens against .

METHODS

The proteins of the strain MEX-15-099-01 were analyzed, and its MLPs were identified. Subsequently, four virulence-associated MLP genes were selected and identified using PCR. The proteins were analyzed using a structural homology approach and the collection of B-cell epitopes was predicted for each MLP. Finally, a pair of AmEno peptides were synthesized and the antigenic potential was tested using an iELISA.

RESULTS

Our bioinformatics analysis revealed the potential of AmEno, AmGroEl, AmEF-Tu, and AmDnaK proteins as promising candidates for designing immunogens. The PCR allowed the gene sequence identification in the genome of the strain MEX-15-099-01. Notably, AmEno-derived synthetic peptides showed antigenicity in an ELISA.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study has shed light on the potential use of MLPs for immunogen design, demonstrating the antigenic potential of AmEno.