Characterization of rhoptry proteins of Eimeria tenella sporozoites: antigenic diversity of rhoptry epitopes within species of the genus Eimeria and among three asexual generations of a single species, E. tenella.

Rhoptry organelles from sporozoites of the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria tenella contain at least 60 independent polypeptides that can be resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Rhoptries from three species of Eimeria that infect chickens share very few antibody cross-reactive epitopes, and there is poor conservation of epitopes among three distinct asexual generations of zoites within the developmental life cycle of a single parasite, E. tenella.