Expression of recombinant Omp18 and MOMP of Campylobacter jejuni and the determination of their suitability as antigens for serological diagnosis of campylobacteriosis in animals

Vet World Vol.16 January-2023 Article-27

Research Article

Veterinary World, 16(1): 222-228

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.222-228

Sergey Borovikov¹, Kanat Tursunov², Alfiya Syzdykova¹, Ainagul Begenova¹, and Alfira Zhakhina¹

1. Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Technology, S. Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University, 010000, Astana, Kazakhstan.
2. Laboratory of Immunochemistry and Immunobiotechnology, National Center for Biotechnology, 010000, Astana, Kazakhstan.

Background and Aim: Campylobacteriosis causes gastrointestinal tract lesions in adults and children and may result in severe complications. The primary sources of infection are infected animals and animal products. Immunochemical methods effectively diagnose intestinal infections but require highly specific antigens to detect their antibodies. This study aimed to obtain two recombinant immunogenic antigens of Campylobacter jejuni, an outer membrane protein with a molecular weight of 18 kDa (Omp18) and the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) with a molecular weight of 45 kDa, and evaluate their suitability for the serological diagnosis of campylobacteriosis using immunochromatographic assay (ICA).

Materials and Methods: The C. jejuni Omp18 and MOMP gene sequences were synthesized de novo (Macrogen, Korea) and cloned into the pET32 expression plasmid. Using these genetic constructs, electrocompetent cells of the Escherichia coli BL21 strain were transformed and cultured under various conditions. Antigens were purified and refolded using metal affinity chromatography. The properties of the purified proteins were studied by western blotting, liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: We developed two recombinant E. coli BL21 cells producing rOmp18 and Recombinant MOMP (rMOMP) antigens with molecular weights of 36 and 64 kDa, respectively. Amino acid sequence analysis of the obtained antigens showed complete homology with the reference sequences in the PubMed NCBI database. Western blotting using positive-control sera demonstrated the specificity of the recombinant antigens. The results of ELISA with 94 bovine sera showed the interaction of recombinant antigens with specific antibodies.

Conclusion: The obtained rOmp18 and rMOMP antigens can detect antibodies in the serum of infected or recovered animals and can be used to develop ICA. Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni, campylobacteriosis, diagnostics, outer membrane proteins, recombinant antigens.

Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni, campylobacteriosis, diagnostics, outer membrane proteins, recombinant antigens.

How to cite this article: Borovikov S, Tursunov K, Syzdykova A, Begenova A, and Zhakhina A (2023) Expression of recombinant Omp18 and MOMP of Campylobacter jejuni and the determination of their suitability as antigens for serological diagnosis of campylobacteriosis in animals, Veterinary World, 16(1): 222–228.

Received: 30-09-2022 Accepted: 27-12-2022 Published online: 30-01-2023

Corresponding author: Sergey Borovikov E-mail: nicsb_katu@mail.ru

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.222-228

Copyright: Borovikov, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.