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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #279392
Title: Identification and cloning of two immunogenic Clostridium perfringens proteins, elongation factor Tu and pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase of C. perfringens

Author
item Lillehoj, Hyun
item LEE, KYUN - Animal, Plant And Fisheries Quarantine And Inspection Agency (QIA)
item JANG, SEUNG - Research Institute Of Health And Environment
item Lee, Sung
item AN, DONG - National Veterinary Research And Quarantine Service
item LILLEHOJ, ERIK - University Of Maryland

Submitted to: American Association of Avian Pathologists
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2012
Publication Date: 7/20/2012
Citation: Lillehoj, H.S., Lee, K.W., Jang, S., Lee, S.H., An, D.J., Lillehoj, E. 2012. Identification and cloning of two immunogenic Clostridium perfringens proteins, elongation factor Tu and pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase of C. perfringens. American Association of Avian Pathologists. 91(3):e80-86.

Interpretive Summary: n/a

Technical Abstract: Clostridium-related poultry diseases such as necrotic enteritis (NE) and gangrenous dermatitis (GD) cause substantial economic losses on a global scale. Two antigenic Clostridium perfringens proteins, elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) and pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFO), were identified by reaction with immune sera from commercial meat-type chickens with clinical outbreak of Clostridium infections. In addition to the genes encoding EF-Tu and PFO, C. perfringens alpha-toxin and necrotic enteritis B-like (NetB) toxin were also expressed in Escherichia coli and their corresponding recombinant proteins were purified. Using the four recombinant proteins as target antigens in ELISA immunoassays, high serum antibody titers were observed not only in chickens with clinical signs of Clostridium infections, but also in apparently healthy animals from the same disease-endemic farm. By contrast, no antibodies against any of the proteins were present in the serum of a specific pathogen-free bird. In ELISA using recombinant proteins of C. perfringens, the levels of anti-bacterial protein antibodies were also higher in chickens which were experimentally induced to show NE clinical signs after co-infection with C. perfringens and Eimeria maxima compared with uninfected controls.