Abstract
Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis of human and veterinary concern, caused by pathogenic spirochetes of the genus Leptospira. This work reviews the ability of six putative leptospiral outer membrane proteins to interact with extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules. The chosen the genes, LIC10314, LIC10368, LIC12099, LIC12895, LIC12906 and LIC12690, were selected from the genome sequences of L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni mostly based on their cellular localization. The purified proteins were evaluated for their binding capacity by ELISA, except for LIC12690 coding sequence that was tested under denaturing conditions by Western blotting. Binding characterization and specificity of the proteins to ECM components were also studied. Our data show that the attachment of the recombinant proteins to ECM molecules was specific, dose-dependent and saturable, fulfilling the properties of a typical receptor-ligand interaction. These novel identified membrane proteins may play a role in mediating adhesion of L. interrogans to the hosts and therefore in bacterial pathogenesis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Current Research, Technology and Education Topics in Applied Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology |
| Editors | A Mendez-Vilas |
| Place of Publication | Spain |
| Publisher | Formatex |
| Pages | 704 - 713 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Edition | 2nd |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-84-614-6194-3 |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |