Expression and Purification of Recombinant Multi-epitope
Protein of Rhipicephalus
microplus Tick and its Antigenicity in the rabbit model
Muhammad Younas1, Kamran Ashraf1*,
Muhammad Imran Rashid1, Muhammad Ijaz2,
Muhammad Suleman3, Tahir Ali Chohan4 and
Sarfraz-ur-Rahman1
1Department
of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,
Lahore 54200, Pakistan; 2Department of Veterinary
Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Veterinary
and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54200, Pakistan; 3Institute
of Microbiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,
Lahore 54200, Pakistan; 4Institute of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore
54200, Pakistan
*Corresponding author:
kashraf@uvas.edu.pk
Abstract
Rhipicephalus microplus, hard tick causes babesiosis and anaplasmosis in
cattle. For decades, ticks control has been depending on synthetic acaricide
use, however, acaricide-resistant ticks led to alternative effective and
eco-friendly tick control approach such as vaccination. Currently, vaccine
design using immuno-informatics is a promising method in the vaccination field.
Here, we proposed a multi-epitope-based (ME) vaccine against
R. microplus tick, comprising
potential immunodominant B-cells, Helper-T Lymphocytes and Cytotoxic-T Lymphocytes epitopes. Then,
designing of ME vaccine construct, containing sequences of Bm86, Subolesin and
Bm95, was cloned into pET28a a prokaryotic expression vector. The recombinant ME
protein was expressed in the Escherichia
coli BL21 strain. After that protein purification was done by Nickle-NTA
affinity chromatography. Evaluation of expression of recombinant ME based
protein by SDS-PAGE analysis showed that optimal expression in LB medium for 8 h
at 37 °C post-induction by 0.7 mM IPTG. The quality of
purified recombinant protein was validated by Western blot analysis. 100 µg/2ml
of purified ME protein with adjuvant Montanide ISA 50V was used in rabbits to
evaluate the antigenicity of ME protein. Our study finding revealed that the
expressed recombinant ME protein's molecular weight was 42kDa. The
anti-recombinant protein antibodies raised in immunized rabbit’s sera was
detected through western blotting and ELISA. This study results showed that
recombinant ME protein is a potential vaccine candidate against
Rhipicephalus microplus tick
infestations.
To Cite This Article:
Younas M,
Ashraf K, Rashid MI, Ijaz M,
Suleman M, Chohan TA and Sarfraz-ur-Rahman, 2023. Expression and purification of
recombinant multi-epitope protein of
Rhipicephalus microplus tick and its antigenicity in rabbits. Pak Vet J, 43(4): 778-784. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2023.086