Location: Animal Disease Research
Project Number: 2090-32000-043-002-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2019
End Date: Jul 31, 2024
Objective:
We will use nonvirulent Coxiella burnetii Nine Mile II (NMII, RSA439, clone 4) grown in axenic media as a platform to express A. marginale proteins. Available antibodies will be used to confirm the presence of target protein within the C. burnetii membrane. Outer membrane proteins can then be readily isolated and used as an immunogen. This will eliminate the need for animals and cell culture for vaccine production and allows for large amounts of antigen production. The objective specific to this agreement is to express three A. marginale outer membrane proteins (Msp5, Omp7, and Msp2) in the avirulent Coxiella burnetii NMII.
Approach:
A. marginale genes will be cloned and inserted into C. burnetii for expression. The resulting outer membrane proteins will then be purified and used to immunize cattle to determine if the A. marginale proteins, in the context of the C. burnetii outer membrane are immunogenic.
