Molecular characterization of the flaB۲ gene of pathogenic Leptospira vaccinal serovars

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESLeptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonotic diseases which caused by pathogenic Leptospires. The flagellin proteins of pathogenic leptospires such as FlaB۲ play essential role in pathogenesis of the disease. Therefore, a major challenge to develop an effective vaccine against leptospirosis is application of basic research on the flagellins of leptospires to improve vaccine development. The aim of this study was to analyse the nucleotide sequence of flaB۲ gene from vaccinal serovars of leptospira and phylogenetic comparison with clinical isolates.MATERIALS AND METHODSIn this study, ۵ vaccinal serovars of Leptospira and two non-pathogenic Leptospira serovars were used. The Leptospiral genomic DNA was extracted by standard Phenol-Chlorophorm method. The flaB۲ gene were amplified with PCR and specific primers. The nucleotide sequences of flaB۲ gene were analysed for their homology between them and other submitted sequences in the GenBank database using the BLAST and MegAlign software.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe PCR product of flaB۲ gene was ۱۰۵۰ bp gene size in vaccinal serovars tested and it was observed that all ۵ leptospira vaccinal serovars contained the flaB۲ gene. This gene was not observed in non- pathogenic serovars. In our study nuclotide sequencing results showed high similarity (۱۰۰ %) among the leptospira vaccinal serovars and also isolates with sequences submitted in the GenBank.CONCLUSIONThe results concluded that the flaB۲ gene has high conservation between various leptospira serovars. The results suggested that flaB۲ gene may useful for preparation of recombinant antigen and candidate for recombinant vaccine and can also be used in an ELISA kit for the serodiagnosis of Leptospirosis.

کلیدواژه ها:

Leptospirosis ، flaB۲ gene ، Molecular characterization ، Vaccinal serovars of Leptospira ، Sequence analysis