Teladorsagia circumcincta 1,6-Bisphosphate Aldolase: Molecular and Biochemical Characterisation, Structure Analysis and Recognition by Immune Hosts

Abstract

A 1095 bp full length cDNA encoding Teladorsagia circumcincta aldolase (TciALDO-1) was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Recombinant TciALDO-1 was purified, and its kinetic properties determined. The predicted protein consisted of 365 amino acids, and was present as a single band of about 44 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Multiple alignments of the protein sequence of TciALDO-1 with homologues from other helminths showed the greatest similarity (93%) to the aldolases of Haemonchus contortus and Dictyocaulus viviparus, 82–86% similarity to the other nematode sequences, and 68–71% similarity to cestode and trematode enzymes. Substrate binding sites and conserved regions were identified, and were completely conserved in other homologues. At 30 °C, the optimum pH for TciALDO-1 activity was pH 7.5, the Vmax was 432 ± 23 nmol × min−1 × mg−1 protein, and the apparent Km for the substrate fructose 1,6-bisphosphate was 0.24 ± 0.01 µM (mean ± SEM, n = 3). Recombinant TciALDO-1 was recognized by antibodies in both serum and saliva from field-immune sheep in ELISA, however, that was not the case with nematode-naïve sheep. Teladorsagia circumcincta fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase appears to have potential as a vaccine candidate to control this common sheep parasite.

Multi-Omic Profiling, Structural Characterization, and Potent Inhibitor Screening of Evasion-Related Proteins of a Parasitic Nematode, Haemonchus contortus, Surviving Vaccine Treatment

“…A vaccine Barbervax ® (Moredun Research Institute, Penicuik, Mid-Lothian, UK) based on an extract of adult H. contortus has recently been commercialized in Australia [5]. Our recent work aimed at developing a recombinant Haemonchus vaccine comprising 11 antigens, and it has proven effective in weaned lambs as well as the closely related Teladorsagia circumcincta vaccine [6][7][8][9]. The recombinant vaccine is a mixture of metabolic enzymes and immunomodulatory and regulatory proteins, and the antigen composition is described in the methods.…”