AUTHOR=Hu Yun-Fei , Zhao Dun , Yu Xing-Long , Hu Yu-Li , Li Run-Cheng , Ge Meng , Xu Tian-Qi , Liu Xiao-Bo , Liao Hua-Yuan 

TITLE=Identification of Bacterial Surface Antigens by Screening Peptide Phage Libraries Using Whole Bacteria Cell-Purified Antisera

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00082

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.00082

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Bacterial surface proteins can be good vaccine candidates. In the present study, we used polyclonal antibodies purified with intact <italic>Erysipelothrix rhusiopthiae</italic> to screen phage-displayed random dodecapeptide and loop-constrained heptapeptide libraries, which led to the identification of mimotopes. Homology search of the mimotope sequences against <italic>E. rhusiopthiae</italic>-encoded ORF sequences revealed 14 new antigens that may localize on the surface of <italic>E. rhusiopthiae</italic>. When these putative surface proteins were used to immunize mice, 9/11 antigens induced protective immunity. Thus, we have demonstrated that a combination of using the whole bacterial cells to purify antibodies and using the phage-displayed peptide libraries to determine the antigen specificities of the antibodies can lead to the discovery of novel bacterial surface antigens. This can be a general approach for identifying surface antigens for other bacterial species.</p>