Molecular characterization of Tritrichomonas foetus surface proteins

ABDALA, ME; CARRANZA, PG; LUQUE, ME; LUNA, BE; RIVERO, MB; DI LULLO, D; RIVERO, FD

Mar dek Plata

Congreso; XXXI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Protozoología; 2019

SAP

BovineTrichomonosis, whose causative agent is the protozoan Tritrichomonas foetus(T. foetus), is one of the most common endemic infections of thereproductive tract of livestock. Its diagnosis is difficult due to lack oftrained people and effective tools that allow early detection to prevent itsspread. Little is known about the molecular biology of this parasite and itspotential antigen targets. In this sense, the study of its surface proteins isof great interest to identify new diagnostic targets as well as to elucidatepossible mechanisms of evasion of the immune response. The aim of this work wasto characterize different surface antigens of T. foetus. Six candidateproteins for surface proteins were selected and the search for these genes inthe genome of T. foetus was performed. Their presence in the genome ofthe isolates and that of their transcripts was confirmed by the use of specificprimers by PCR and RT-PCR respectively. To study the presence of thetranslation products, plasma membrane proteins were purified by subcellularfractionation and analysed by mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). The 6 selectedgenes were found in the genome of the isolates as well as their transcripts.Membrane protein analysis showed the presence of only 3 of them. They representuseful tools for the design of new diagnostic methods through the evaluation oftheir antigenic characteristics and the development of antibodies that allowthem to be detected quickly and specifically.