abstract book - Clostridia

BACILLUS SUBTILIS SPORE VACCINES: USE OF GLUTATHIONE S-TRANSFERASELi Li 1, 2 and Simon M. Cutting 11 School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London,Egham, UK.2 Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou,Guangdong 510089, P. R. China.Glutathione S-transferase (GST), is an essential detoxification enzyme inparasitic helminthes and is a major vaccine and drug target againstSchistosomiasis and other helminthic diseases. GST, obtained fromSchistosoma japonicum, is commonly used as an expression system for theexpression and purification of recombinant proteins, which are fused to GST,in Escherichia coli.In this work, we are using the 26 kDa GST from the Sh. japonica (SjGST) asa fusion partner with which to express the 52 kDa tetanus toxin fragment C(TTFC) of Clostridium tetani. It has shown that SjGST fused to TTFC fusionprotein can be expressed using two routes, displayed on the spore surfaceas well as in the germinating spore. CotC and CotB have been used toexpress GST-TTFC on the spore surface and compared to expression ofTTFC alone facilitate higher levels of expression, presumably the chimera ismore stable. Likewise, GST-TTFC can be expressed at higher levels in thevegetative cell when fused to GST.Our immediate plan now is to evaluate GST and GST-TTFC specifichumoral immune responses and determine whether spores could be usedas a mucosal vaccine against Schistosoma japonicum and possibly as abetter spore based vaccine to tetanus.