Isolation and characterization of antigenic proteins of Cowdria ruminantium

Abstract

Two antígenically conserved Cowdria ruminantium proteins, an immunodominant 31 kDa and a minor 27 kDa protein, were characterized. The 31 kDa and 27 kDa proteins are single polypeptide chains. The 31 kDa protein contains no glycoconjugates and the partial, internal amino acid sequence was determined. The acidic nature of this protein, deduced from the amino acid composition, was confirmed by IEF (pI 5.7). Monospecific antiserum was prepared against the 27 and 31 kDa proteins and results indicate that they are immunogenic and share common epitopes.